The electrolytic conductivity detector as an element-selective gas chromatographic detector

The response and elemental selectivity of the electrolytic conductivity detector (E1CD) to nitrogen-, chlorine-, and sulfur-containing compounds has been investigated as a function of chemical structure, furnace chemistry conditions (i.e., reaction gas, furnace temperature, catalyst, and post-furnace chemical abstractors), and solubilization-and-ionization processes (electrolytic chemistry and electrolytic conductance). The "profiling" of detector response for the gas-liquid chromatographic-E1CD analysis of selected compounds under defined furnace chemistry reaction conditions and electrolytic chemistry included the determination of detector signal to noise ratio, peak tailing, and elemental selectivity. Detector response and conductivity phenomena are discussed in terms of gas-phase furnace chemistry reactions, post-furnace reaction or abstraction processes, and solution-phase ionization and neutralization processes occurring in the conductivity cell.