GC Derivatization Reagents

Derivatization of compounds containing polar functional groups is often essential for acceptable gas chromatographic separation. Chemical derivatization generally has several benefits that lead to improved retention properties and peak resolution. The derivatized compounds are more volatile due to reduced hydrogen bonding from the analytes polar functional groups. This results in shorter retention times with less chromatographic peak tailing, which is commonly associated with analytes containing polar functional groups.

Additionally, the derivatized compounds tend to have a higher thermal stability, which allows for the use of higher temperatures in analysis, resulting in shorter GC runs. Many analysts find that the derivatized compounds are more ideally suited for GC-MS analysis than their underivatized counterpart, as they are higher in mass and often detected with greater sensitivity by the mass spectrometer.

All of CovaChem's GC derivatization reagents are stored under nitrogen (N2) in sealed glass containers. Each of our 1 gram package sizes comes in hermetically sealed 1 gram ampules enabling the use fresh derivatization reagent with each application. This is increasingly beneficial when absolute reproducibility is important.