Evolution and status of preparative gas chromatography as a green sample-preparation technique

The present paper reviews recent approaches to preparative capillary gas chromatography (PCGC) covering the period 2010-14. The “green” character of this approach is discussed in relation to the capability to collect chemicals from complex samples, avoiding the consumption of organic solvents that represent a great environmental issue. A discussion is presented regarding critical points in PCGC, mainly related to sample injection, sample capacity, collection system, conditions and sample flushing issues. Following the increasing trend related to the use of multi-dimensional (MD) techniques in recent decades, a section is devoted to the benefits when such an approach is applied in PCGC. One-dimensional and MD applications covering different fields that have appeared in literature since 2010 are described, mainly followed by elucidation steps often performed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), vapour-phase Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometric (MS) analyses.