Agilent 8890 GC System with 5977B Series Mass Selective Detector
The GC/MSD system couples high-resolution capillary gas chromatographic separation with single-quadrupole mass-selective detection, enabling simultaneous separation, identification, and quantification of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in complex mixtures. The Agilent 8890 GC platform provides precise electronic pneumatic control (EPC) of carrier-gas flow and pressure, rapid and reproducible oven temperature programming, and a modular inlet/detector architecture, while the 5977B Mass Selective Detector delivers industry-leading sensitivity through its High-Efficiency Source (HES) and Inert Plus Extractor electron-ionization (EI) source.
The instrument is configured with electron ionization (EI) as the primary ionization mode, with positive and negative chemical ionization (PCI/NCI) available for selective, softer ionization of specific analyte classes. Compound identification is supported by full-scan spectral library matching (NIST/Wiley-compatible libraries) in addition to targeted selected-ion monitoring (SIM) for trace-level quantification.
Analytical Capabilities & Compatible Sample Types
The system is suited to any analyte that can be vaporized without decomposition (or converted to a volatile derivative), typically compounds below ~1,000 Da molecular weight.
- Volatile & Semi-Volatile Organics — VOCs, SVOCs, solvents, and residual process chemicals in air, water, soil, and product matrices.
- Environmental Pollutants — Organochlorine/organophosphate pesticides, PAHs, PCBs, petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH fingerprinting).
- Food & Flavor Compounds — Essential oils, aroma/flavor volatiles, fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), pesticide residues.
- Phrmaceutical Compounds — Residual solvents (ICH Q3C), synthetic intermediates, impurity profiling.
- Petrochemicals & Fuels — Hydrocarbon speciation, fuel quality and contamination analysis.
- Forensic & Toxicological Samples — Drugs of abuse, accelerants, trace organic evidence.
Applications
Academia & Research
Reaction monitoring and structural confirmation of newly synthesized organic compounds.
Undergraduate and postgraduate analytical, organic, and environmental chemistry laboratory instruction.
Thesis and funded-project research requiring trace-level organic analysis.
Natural product and essential oil compositional studies.
Industry & Commercial Services
Environmental testing laboratories — soil, water, and air VOC/SVOC screening for regulatory compliance.
Food and beverage industry — flavor/aroma profiling, adulteration detection, pesticide residue screening.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers — residual solvent testing and impurity qualification.
Petrochemical and energy sector — fuel and lubricant hydrocarbon fingerprinting.
Forensic and quality-control laboratories require compound identification services.
Lab Incharge