Sulfur and nitrogen chemiluminescence detection in gas chromatographic analysis

Sulfur and nitrogen compounds exist in a wide variety of analytical samples, from harmful contaminants in refinery streams to important ingredients in certain beverages, spices and condiments. Accurate determination of sulfur/nitrogen concentrations in these diverse samples is very important for process monitoring, quality control, product development, as well as basic research in these different industries. Due to the complex nature of the matrices, and the fact that the sulfur/nitrogen analytes usually exist at low concentrations, an element-selective detector for sulfur/nitrogen is indispensable to the GC analysis of these samples. To meet this challenge, sulfur and nitrogen chemiluminescence detectors for GC have become one of the most powerful tools available to analytical chemists, thanks to their high sensitivity, selectivity and equimolar detector response. In this brief review, an overview of the chemiluminescence detector operating principles, as well as the detector characteristics is presented. Examples of their applications in petroleum refinery, environmental analysis and food/flavor industry are presented. The two chemiluminescence detectors have also been combined into one convenient package and an example of applications of the simultaneous sulfur/nitrogen chemiluminescence detector is also provided.