Low Pressure - Gas Chromatography : Recent Trends and Developments

25 Low pressure-gas chromatography (LP-GC) has been applied during the last few 26 years for the fast analysis of various pollutants in different environmental and food matrices. 27 A typical LP-GC setup involves the use of a short microbore column (typically 0.5-1 m x 28 0.10 mm internal diameter) at the injector side connected with a zero dead-volume connector 29 to a short megabore column (typical 10 m x 0.53 mm) to be used with higher gas velocities. 30 This setup maintains atmospheric injection conditions, while the analytical column is operated 31 under low pressure conditions which are compatible with mass spectrometer analysers. 32 Although the use of LP-GC results in a loss of separation efficiency, it offers a 3-5 fold 33 reduction in analysis time for organic compounds and thus an increased sample throughput 34 and an enhancement of the signal to noise ratio leading to improved detection limits. 35 Considering the significance and the potential interest for this topic, the present review briefly 36 describes the concept of LP-GC. Furthermore, the recent developments and applications of 37 LP-GC, with a focus on the use of various column systems and analyzers, are also explored. 38 Finally, the prospects and limitations of LP-GC are also critically evaluated. 39 40 41