ABSTRACT
The first GC detector was invented in 1952 by the originators of the technique, James and Martin [1], and took the form of a titration apparatus situated at the end of the column. One of the original applications of GC was the separation of a mixture of fatty acids and consequently, the eluent gas was bubbled through a suitable aqueous liquid to absorb the solutes. The solution contained an indicator, the color of which changed as each solute was eluted, and the solution was then manually titrated. Later the titration process was automated by the inventors (probably the first automatic titration apparatus to be made and certainly the only one available at that time) and an integral chromatogram was formed by plotting the volume of base solution added against time. The chromatogram consisted of a series of steps one for each solute. This rather primitive arrangement clearly and plainly demonstrated that gas chromatography would work but, at the same time, it also indicated that a detector with greater sensitivity and a more catholic response was necessary for the effective use of the technique.
