Difference Between Gas Chromatography and Liquid Chromatography

The main difference between gas chromatography and liquid chromatography is that gas chromatography uses a gas as the mobile phase (nitrogen or helium) while liquid chromatography uses a liquid (methanol or acetonitrile), which may be a polar or non-polar solvent.

Chromatography is the most widely used method for the separation of analytes in chemical laboratories for isolation, purification and analysis, as well as in the chemical or pharmaceutical process industry in small and large scale development. ladder. The sample is separated into two components such that the mobile phase is liquid or gaseous and the stationary phase is solid or liquid.

Some of the most common forms of chromatography are high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, thin layer chromatography (TLC or HPTLC), ion exchange chromatography, and column chromatography.

The main differences between gas chromatography and liquid chromatography are given below.

Gas chromatography:

GC is the most widely used chromatographic separation technique. In this technique the mobile phase is usually a passive gas such as nitrogen, helium or argon which is also called carrier gas, the columns are formed of inert materials, packed columns and capillaries are used to separate the components of the sample which are volatile. . . Capillary columns offer higher resolution and are relatively expensive than other columns.

  • The mobile phase in GC is a gas.
  • The separation is mainly based on the boiling points of the analytes.
  • Analysis can only be performed on the column.
  • Gaseous and volatile compounds can be applied in the separation.
  • Due to high temperatures, some components may degrade.
  • The separation of the components depends on the boiling point, so it is not very flexible in case of optimization of the separation.
  • The scan is quick and usually takes minutes.
  • Provide better resolution.
  • Vaporizing solvents can be used.

Liquid Chromatography:

Liquid chromatography is the most popular technique for the separation of sample mixture based on the interaction between sample molecules with mobile phases and stationary phase. It can be in a column or in a sheet with a mobile phase and a solid support as the stationary phase.

Mobile phase chromatography travels through the stationary phase to transport different components of the sample. The interactions between the chromatography medium and the sample molecules can depend on many factors such as size, hydrophobicity, affinity and charge. Liquid chromatography technology is a sophisticated method that uses pressure using a pump to separate the analyte by column, it is called high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). It is currently the widely used pharmaceutical analysis method for quantitative and qualitative analysis.

  • The liquid mobile phase is used in LC.
  • The separation of analytes depends on the interaction of the solute with the stationary phase.
  • The separation can be carried out in a column or in a sheet.
  • Any soluble compound can be separated by LC.
  • It is usually performed at room temperature so that heat-sensitive compounds can be tested safely and no degradation occurs between tests.
  • LC is a relatively time-consuming technique.
  • It usually gives a higher or wider peak, resulting in lower resolution.
  • Polar solvents used in LC (water, methanol).

If you want to know other articles similar to Difference Between Gas Chromatography and Liquid Chromatography you can visit the category gas chromatography.

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