Experiment 4: Gas Chromatography questions

Danling Ye
Chem113E
Q11: In the homemade GC, the gas was injected through a syringe into the latex tubing.
In the commercial GC, the gas was also injected through a syringe and moves into the
column. In the commercial GC, after injection, the substance was volatilized. In the
commercial GC, the volatized gas moves to the separating column via a stream of carrier
gas that usually is a pure, inert gas and the column contains a liquid stationary phase. The
column is in an oven that can raise or lower the temperature. In the homemade GC, the
column is a glass tube that contains Tide detergent and the carrier gas is natural gas. The
detector in the homemade GC is a copper coil placed in a small flame that is generated by
the burning of natural gas at the column exit. The detector for the commercial GC
consists of three components: a thermal conductivity detector, a flame ionization
detector, and electron capture detector. In the homemade GC, retention time was
calculated by timing when the flame increased and decreased in intensity, while in the
commercial GC, the detectors measured the retention times of the samples and the
instrument was connected to a computer that displayed the output. The spacebar was hit
the zero the instrument when the sample was injected in the commercial GC. The
commercial GC has a pressurized tank of carrier gas, a pressure regulator and flow
controller for the carrier gas, and a column oven, all of which the homemade GC did not
have. In addition, the commercial GC was connected to a computer, whereas the
homemade GC was not. The homemade GC had more possible sources of error. The
experimenters recorded the time of the first appearance of a green-blue color in the flame,
the maximum intensity of the green-blue flame, and the disappearance of the green-blue
color in the flame. Sometimes, it was hard for the experimenters to determine precisely
when those events occurred, leading to possible error. For both methods of GC, possible
contamination of the samples might lead to error. In addition, if the commercial GC is not
programmed to the correct temperature or pressure, error could result. In both cases, the
compound was identified depending on the retention time. It is known that smaller
compounds have lower retention times than bigger compounds because it takes less time
for the smaller compound to travel through the column. Thus, since the sample consisted
of a mixture of Freon 123 and Freon 22, the Freon 22 would have a lower retention time
than the Freon 123.
Q12: The first peak corresponds to Freon 22 and the second peak corresponds to Freon
123 in the chromatogram obtained using a commercial GC. Freon 22 has less weight and
will thus travel faster than Freon 123; its peak will appear first.
Q13: The retention times of Freon 22 according to the commercial GC are either 1.25
minutes or 1.23 minutes. The retention time of the Freon 123 according to the
commercial GC is 2.95 minutes. The homemade GC had higher retention times compared
to the commercial GC; the homemade GC had a retention time of 3.60 minutes for Freon
22 and 10.60 minutes for Freon 123. The different GC had different substances in the
column and the substances in the column for each GC were packed differently and had
different densities, thus the gases traveled at different rates through each GC. In addition,
the length of the column differed for each GC. Other factors probably also contributed to
the difference.



Q14:



Q15: The peak area (y-value) for Freon 123 in sample #2 is known, but the concentration
(x-value) is not. The y-value for Freon 123 is 13883.
Y=37.059x +291
X=(y-291)/37.059
X=(13883-291)/(37.059) = 366.767 ppm
The concentration of Freon 123 in the unknown sample is 366.767 ppm.



y = 37.059x + 291
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Concentration (ppm)
Peak Area Vs. Concentration for Freon 123


Q16:

Q17: The peak area (y-value) for Freon 22 in sample #2 is known, but the concentration
(x-value) is not. The y-value for Freon 22 is 6095.
Y=17.36x 77
X=(y+77)/17.36
X=(6095+77)/17.36
X=355.53 ppm
The concentration of Freon 22 in the unknown sample is 355.53 ppm.
Q18: The peak intensities for different compounds of the same concentration are
different. The peak intensity depends on how the sample reacts with the stationary phase,
and different compounds will have different chemical and physical properties so they
y = 17.36x - 77
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Peak Area Vs. Concentration for Freon 22
would be able to pass through stationary phase at different rates even if the compounds
are at the same concentration, thus the peak intensities would be different.