GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY OF TITANS ATMOSPHERE .3. ANALYSIS OF LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT HYDROCARBONS AND NITRILES WITH A CP-SIL-5 CB WCOT CAPILLARY COLUMN

The systematic calibration of a CP-Sil-5 CB wall-coated open-tubular capillary column (0.15 mm I.D., 2-mu-m film) with a chemically bonded stationary phase (dimethyl polysiloxane) is reported for the separation of C1-C6 hydrocarbons and C1-C4 nitriles, at temperatures ranging from 20 to 80-degrees-C. Retention indices are given for these solutes at 20-degrees-C. Van Deemter curves are also plotted for propionitrile, n-hexane and benzene at 20 and 50-degrees-C. The column provides good efficiency and resolution, suitable for the conditions required by a flight instrument aboard a Titan probe, such as the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry experiment on the Huygens probe of the Cassini mission.