The use of a high-speed switching valve for sample introduction in narrow bore capillary gas chromatography

This paper is dealing with the evaluation of the performance of a high-speed pneurnatically actuated switching valve used for sample introduction in narrow bore capillary gas chromatography. The instrumental setup of the sampling device is described and it is demonstrated that the injection valve is capable of generating input band widths of only a few milliseconds. Additionally, important parameters such as reproducibility of both retention times and peak areas are discussed. For the retention times an acceptable reproducibility was obtained. The relative standard deviations for absolute peak areas was approximately 20% (n= 10). Finally the applicability of the sampling device is illustrated by several high-speed separations.