Skip to content

GC-MS Interface

Definition

The physical link between a gas chromatograph and a mass spectrometer. Older designs used jet separators and open splits to manage the carrier-gas load on the vacuum system. Modern capillary-column GC-MS sends the entire column effluent directly into the ion source, with the small carrier-gas flow handled by a turbomolecular pump.

Related terms

Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionisation (APCI)
A complementary atmospheric-pressure source that vaporises the LC eluent and uses a corona discharge to ionise a reagent gas, which transfers charge...
Electrospray Ionisation (ESI)
A soft atmospheric-pressure ionisation source that sprays the LC eluent through a charged capillary into a heated counter-current gas, producing protonated or...
Hyphenated Technique
A single workflow that couples a separation method to a spectroscopic detector, so a complex mixture is resolved and each component identified...
MRM (Multiple Reaction Monitoring)
A targeted MS/MS scan mode on a triple quadrupole that monitors specific precursor-to-product ion transitions, with two transitions per analyte (quantifier and...
Vapour-Phase IR Spectrum
The infrared spectrum recorded as a GC analyte elutes into a heated light pipe inside the FTIR cell, with no solvent or...

Explained in

Your journey to becoming a forensic professional starts here.

Practice with mock tests, learn from structured notes, and get your questions answered by a global forensic community, all in one place.