Potential of flame ionization detection coupled on-line with microcolumn liquid chromatography using aqueous eluents and an eluent-jet interface

The potential of the on-line coupling of microcolumn liquid chromatography (μLC) using aqueous eluents with a flame ionization detector (FID) was evaluated. An eluent-jet interface was modified to allow the efficient introduction of the eluent into the FID. The potential of the method is demonstrated by the μLC-FID determination of lower alcohols and bis(2-hydroxyethylthio)alkanes on porous and non-porous stationary phases, respectively. Flow injection analysis (FIA)-FID experiments with highly polar, thermolabile, semi-volatile and non-volatile compounds like amino acids, organic acids, alkylphosphonic acids, and carbohydrates showed the developed configuration to be a promising approach for the detection of a wide range of analytes. Compared with a nebulization interface, the eluent-jet interface showed 4-10 times higher peaks for citric acid. Detection limits by FIA for all compounds were in the range of 0.2-5 ng injected. With ribose as test compound, plots of peak height vs. amount injected showed good linearity (r 2 > 0.999) in the range of 75-12,000 μg/mL. The repeatability showed relative standard deviations of less than 5%.