ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the principles and practice, to underline the advantages, but also limitations, and to point out possible applications of Inverse Gas Chromatography. Chromatography is an analytical method that largely contributed to significant advances in chemistry and biochemistry. Numerous adsorption isotherms allowing to determine adsorption enthalpies and entropies of solutes, polar surface properties of solids and “global” surface energy were recorded and interpreted. The particular structure of starch, made of amorphous and crystalline zones needs to be taken into account when adsorption occurs in presence of water. The experimental arrangement necessitates a small modification of a commercial gas chromatograph, including a special cell placed inside the chromatographic oven. The determination of the actual surface area value and of the interaction capacity of the oxides at the inner side of metallic tubing is of major importance for the estimation of the water adsorption capacity and of other contaminants. The global adsorption energy is made of the contribution of all sites.
