Chromatography Forum

Hi all

I have really grown to hate autosampler syringes with the detachable needles. I find stuff finds its way into the crevices between the syringe body and needle and carries over no mater what you rinse it with. I have to pull it apart and I can smell the flavor chemicals in there and often see the residue and then sonicate it in toluene or whatever solvent. Otherwise, especially when I do low split or splitless I'll get peaks.

Has anyone had that issue?

I was having a similar issue with carryover that I narrowed down to the septum on the wash vial. Once I removed (not replace) the septum I stopped seeing carryover.

My wash vials don't have septa (Agilent 7684 with the conical open cap). I know it is the syringe because I take it apart and there is oil/residue which smells strongly of flavor.

I suspect that this problem is critically dependent on how well made the syringes are.

One of the huge advantages of working with smelly analytes is that you can detect them by nose without having to do a chemical analysis - it's great for checking breakthrough of traps for e.g.

Peter