Potentials of capillary gas chromatography in toxicology today

The usefulness, the applicability and the limitations of capillary gas chromatography in various types of toxicological analysis were discussed. Technical parameters of capillary gas chromatography, such as type of injector, type of column with regard to material, size, and stationary phase were assessed in view of the requirements of toxicological analysis. The main advantage of capillary gas chromatography, i.e. high separation power, is unfortunately counterbalanced by low loadability and/or speed of analysis. In the present situation capillary gas chromatography is a method of choice in drug screening despite some disadvantages, but in drug-oriented analysis the conventional chromatography on packed; columns is probably more useful.