Use of nitrogen to remove solvent from through oven transfer adsorption desorption interface during analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by large volume injection in gas chromatography

The through oven transfer adsorption desorption (TOTAD) interface allows large volume injection (LVI) in gas chromatography and the on-line coupling of liquid chromatography and gas chromatography (LC–GC), enabling the LC step to be carried out in normal as well as in reversed phase. However, large amounts of helium, which is both expensive and scarce, are necessary for solvent elimination. We describe how slight modification of the interface and the operating mode allows nitrogen to be used during the solvent elimination steps. In order to evaluate the performance of the new system, volumes ranging from 20 to 100 μL of methanolic solutions of four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were sampled. No significant differences were found in the repeatability and sensitivity of the analyses of standard PAH solutions when using nitrogen or helium. The performance using the proposed modification was similar and equally satisfactory when using nitrogen or helium for solvent elimination in the TOTAD interface. In conclusion, the use of nitrogen will make analyses less expensive.