Innovative and performing stationary phase for gas chromatographic analyses

Gas chromatography is widely used for qualitative and quantitative analysis in numerous fields, such as petroleum, chemical industry, agriculture, environmental protection, medicine and so on, due to its high versatility, high selectivity, simplicity of use, analysis speed, and low sample consumption. The heart of a gas chromatograph is the column, that allows the analyte separation and thein their recognition and quantification. Anyway, in some cases the use of commercial columns does not allow a complete peak separation, due to the high similarity of the analytes in terms of molecular weight, polarity, and vapor pressure. Examples could be represented by isomers, like aniline or xylene isomers, aromatic amines. The choice of the correct stationary phase, with high selectivity towards target analytes, is then the key to obtain the required chromatographic separation, and then the subsequent qualitative and quantitative analysis. Considering the rapid development of polymer science and the application of organic synthesis technology, and the growing demand for new columns with improved resolution capabilities, in this work novel stationary phases for capillary gas chromatography have been designed, synthesized, and characterized in terms of polarity range, resolution, column efficiency, thermal stability, film-forming properties, and support-deactivating capacity. The separation features of these novel stationary phases allow high-resolution performances for a wide range of compounds, with marked capabilities towards isomer separations.