History of the GC/MS

Mass spectrometers have become pivotal for a wide range of applications in the analysis of inorganic, organic, and bio-organic chemicals. Examples include dating of geologic

samples, drug testing and drug discovery, process monitoring in the petroleum, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries, surface analysis and the structural identification of unknowns. Further, mass spectrometry is being continually improved and has recently had significant advances in its application to molecular biology, where it is now possible to analyze proteins, DNA, and even viruses.

In 1952, Martin collaborated with A.T. James to describe the gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) system he had first considered a decade earlier. Martin and James separated volatile carboxylic acids and amines with a gaseous mobile phase and a stationary liquid coated on an inert support that was packed into a tube and heated by boiling solvent. Although it was simple, the technique worked well. Within three years, commercial GLC systems were available and the technique was on its way to being a routinely used analytical method.

While historical evidence suggests that separations using column chromatography may have been done as early as the Middle Ages, an explanation of the phenomenon wasn't developed until the early twentieth century. Mikhail Tswett, a botanist who was interested in investigating and separating plant pigments, developed and explained the techniques that laid the groundwork for modern chromatographic methods. Tswett used petroleum ether as his mobile phase and an open glass tube packed with calcium carbonate as the stationary phase. Both were materials he had available in his laboratory. He detected the pigment zones by their natural colors.

In working to increase separation efficiency, Martin and Synge showed that the height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) was dependent upon the linear flow of the eluent and diffusivity of the sample in the mobile phase. They concluded that high separation efficiencies could be achieved through the use of very small particles of stationary phase and high pressure differentials. Lack of uniformity in particle size and eluent flow limited the degree of efficiency, however, and they decided not to work with systems which used solid stationary phases.

It would be ten more years before chromatography was widely accepted as a useful analytical method. In 1941, Brockman developed a system to standardize the chromatographic activity of alumina as a stationary phase. This enabled scientists to obtain reproducible results and was a catalyst for further research into chromatographic systems.

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