Effect of Water Vapor on Chromatographic Characteristics of the Cyclodextrin-Containing Stationary Liquid Phase in Capillary Gas Chromatography

The effects of the presence of water vapor in the carrier gas and the temperature on the retention of achiral and chiral compounds, enantioselectivity, and performance of an open-tubular column with a cyclodextrin-containing phase were studied. The use of a carrier gas containing water vapor in the determination of optically active isomers, such as camphor, slightly increases the retention factor. A substantial improvement of performance characteristics of the column was found: for hydroxy compounds, the column performance increased by two to three times and the peak symmetry improved by more than twice.