Ionic Liquids: Sensitivity Enhancement in Headspace Gas Chromatography

A relatively new application for ionic liquids, as solvents in static Headspace Gas Chromatography, is further investigated. Two ionic liquids were studied and the response towards a range of low boiling point residual solvents increased compared  to when dimethyl acetamide was used as the headspace diluent. An attempt to correlate results with a suitable solvent model was made. The results highlight the potential of ionic liquids to enhance headspace sensitivity for residual solvent  analysis.

Ionic liquids provide a wide spectrum of functions for chemical applications including: MALDI mass spectrometry matrices for the analysis of large biomoleculesi, ‘Green solvents’ii and even performance additives for paintiii. Gas Chromatography is a
relatively recent application for ionic liquids, in which novel ionic liquid stationary phases for capillary columns have been investigate.