Anna Feerick is a 6th-year Ph.D. student at the University of California, Davis, and the co-lead, alongside Seth Newton, of BP4NTA’s Gas Chromatography-NTA working group. This group started in October 2024 and consists of 52 scientists from a variety of disciplines, all interested in unifying and advancing the field of GC-NTA. The focus of this work, and their first paper (currently under internal review at the US EPA), is on the current state of the science and on proposing a path forward for the field.
This meeting will occur on Wednesday, August 19th, from 12 pm – 1 pm EST. Please reach out if you did not receive the link through the newsletter and would like to attend.
Talk Title: “Gas Chromatography and Non-targeted Analysis: Struggles and Successes”
Abstract: Gas chromatography, combined with high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS), is uniquely suited for detecting volatile and semi-volatile compounds within complex samples. Despite this unique chemical coverage, GC-HRMS remains underutilized compared to liquid chromatography-HRMS (LC-HRMS) as a separation and ionization technique for non-targeted analysis (NTA). To understand this discrepancy, we have performed a critical review of the use of GC-HRMS for NTA (GC-NTA), from instrumentation specifics to criteria for compound identification. Within this review, we evaluate the key developments that have advanced NTA using LC-HRMS (LC-NTA), compare GC-NTA with specific LC-NTA advantages (such as versatility, soft ionization, broad analyte range, and sample preparation), and highlight the unique advantages of GC-NTA. We perform a detailed review on many of the key steps in GC-NTA workflows, with the goal of understanding the current state of the science: how GC-NTA data is collected, processed, and analyzed to obtain useful information. The review also plots a path forward for the GC-NTA community by synthesizing lessons from LC-NTA development, addressing critical gaps identified in the GC-NTA state of the science review, and reducing barriers to GC-NTA adoption into more NTA studies. We finish by identifying critical knowledge gaps caused by the paucity of GC-NTA applications. In conclusion, we argue that GC-NTA can and should become as widespread as LC-NTA as it covers a complementary chemical space and, while there are significant challenges to be faced, they are not insurmountable. The views expressed do not represent agency policy.