A review of experimental procedures of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (gc-ms) and possible sources of analytical errors

This paper reviews the experimental procedures of the Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. The objectives of this study are to present a step-by-step procedure involved in the GC-MS analysis and inter-pretations of the resulting data both qualitatively and quantitatively, and to identify the possible sources of analytical errors that may be encountered by young inexperienced organic geochemists. The overall process encompasses ultrasonic solvent extraction, fractionation and GC-MS analysis itself. The qualitative and quantitative information obtained from the GC-MS interpretations when integrated together is capable of giving us an insight into the source or origin, depositional environment and level thermal maturity of the analysed sample. The possible sources of analytical errors may include contamination, measurement errors, mechanical/instrumental errors, fractionation errors, and loading errors on the GC. Analytical geochemists must therefore be aware of these errors among others in order to minimise them to the reasonable level. It is recommended that, if weak signals result from the GC-MS analysis of a fraction, such a fraction should be prepared in higher concentration and re-run using selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode so as to enhance signal to noise ratio, and that the GC-MS data should always be interpreted with GC-MS softwares with biomarkers definitions in order to obtain more reliable and robust interpretations.