Optimization of temperature programming in gas chromatography with respect to separation time. I. Temperature programme optimization fundamentals

The ranges of separbility of neighbouring component pairs in a given mixture, separated isothermally on a given chromatographic column, are defined. These ranges are calculated by approximation functions fitted to the measured values of the retention times and peak widths during isothermal analyses. The sequence of the most difficult to separate component pairs is determined within the temperature separability ranges of the component pairs of the mixture. This sequence determines the strategy for calculation of the optimum temperature programme, and every step of this sequence determines the substrategy. The purpose of the strategy is to find the optimum temeprature trajectory (programme) and the purpose of the substrategy is to find the optimum subtrajectory, i.e., a part of the optimum trajectory. The determination of the strategy and the corresponding substrategies is presented for mixtures of components that do not change their mutual position during isothermal separations within the whole temperature range