GC Columns, Accessories & Adsorbents

Gas chromatography (GC) is a chromatographic technique used for the rapid separation of volatile compounds using an inert carrier gas (mobile phase). The mobile phase drives the gaseous compounds through the heated column which is coated with a solid or liquid stationary phase. The differences in the chemical and physical properties of the vaporized compounds and their interactions with the stationary phase are the basis of the separation process. 

View featured products:

• Packed GC Columns
• Capillary Chiral Columns
• Capillary Extremely Polar Columns
• Capillary Highly Polar Columns
• Capillary Intermediate Polar Columns
• Capillary Non-Polar Columns
• Capillary PLOT Columns
• Capillary Polar Columns

Related Product Resources

Gas Chromatography Solvents Specifications
Brochure: GC Workflow
GC Columns Selection Guide
Brochure: GC Solvents

Brochure: GC Accessories
Guide: Environmental & Agricultural GC Columns Selection Guide
Flyer: Determination of Benzene in Reformulated Gasoline

GC Columns

An improved chromatographic separation begins with the selection of the appropriate column. In GC, two types of columns are available: capillary columns and packed columns.

Packed GC Columns

Packed GC columns consist of stainless steel, PTFE, or glass tubing filled with packing material (stationary phase). Packed columns can handle larger sample volumes and are not susceptible to contamination. Glass columns are used for applications requiring high inertness, metal columns are utilized for less demanding applications, and PTFE columns are preferred for low temperature applications.

Capillary GC Columns

Capillary GC columns are best suited for highly sensitive assays. Capillary columns consist of a thin, fused silica glass tube in which the stationary phase is chemically bonded or coated to the inner column surface.

Non-polar GC columns are best suited for the analysis of non-polar compounds (e.g. alkanes). Equity^®-1, Petrocol^®, SPB^®-1, SPB^®-Octyl, and SLB^®-5ms are highly recommended products for the separation of non-polar compounds. Polar GC columns are most efficient at separating polar analytes. SPB^®-624, OVI-G43, SPB^®- 20, Equity^®-1701, SPB^®-35 SPB^®-50, SPB^®-225, PAG, SPB^®-1000, SLB^®-IL60i, and Nukol™ are some of the polar columns that provide the best separation of polar compounds.

Highly polar columns include those that contain stationary phases with a higher percentage of cyanopropyl functional groups. These phases exhibit a variety of interactions amenable to the separation of polarizable compounds. Polarizable compounds are those containing C and H, but with one or more C=C or C≡C bonds. Highly polar capillary columns include SP^®-2330, SP^®-2331, SP^®-2380, SP^®-2560, SP^®-2340, TCEP, SLB^®-IL111i.

GC accessories

GC accessories suitable for common GC instruments include GC septa, inlet liners, inlet seals, ferrules, nuts, guard columns, connectors, flowmeters, hand tools, syringes, vials, and photoionization detector (PID) lamps.

Gas Purification and Gas Management

A gas delivery system must supply a mobile phase gas of high purity at a suitable pressure based on its intended use. We offer products that purify and manage the gas stream (He, H, N, Ar), including purifiers, plumbing and regulation products, and gas generators, and air compressors.

Carbon GC Adsorbents

We offer highly engineered carbon absorbents (Carbosieve^®, Graphsphere™, Carbotrap^®, and Carbopack™) and several commonly used molecular sieve and porous polymer adsorbents for GC analysis. Key features of our carbon adsorbents include:

• Hard and non-friable
• Highly porous
• Hydrophobic in nature hence suitable for humid environments
• Used for molecules with an analyte size relative to C2-C5 n-alkanes