Mathematical models of solute retention in gas chromatography as sources of thermodynamic data.: Part I.: Methyl n-alkyl ketones as the test analytes

Although gas chromatography (GC) is mainly used for analytical and preparative separation of complicated mixtures and then identification of the separated components, it can also be used as a relatively simple tool for the determination of physicochemical (including thermodynamic) properties. In this study, we discuss three different retention models devised specially for GC. They are tested for a homologous series of methyl n-alkyl ketones chromatographed on stationary phases of low and medium polarity at several different isothermal temperatures. The statistical performance of each model is excellent, which makes them a convenient tool for the evaluation of analyte retention under the given working conditions. They can also be used for the determination of the numerical values of thermodynamic properties (e.g., the enthalpy of vaporization of the analytes and the standard molar chemical potential of the partitioning of one methylene group (-CH2-) between the stationary and mobile phases).