Choice of the detector depends on the type of the molecule you are interested in.

You can read following document for further information.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301477008700824

Also, Analytical Chemistry books such as Skoog and Harris would give some idea about that as well.

Hi.

It all depends on what you mean with "good". FID and MS can be used both for acetone and methanol. They both can be better in one case than in the other, but as a general rule I try using the MS. In principle, anything you can separate on a GC system you can detect by MS. I don't think you could see either methanol or acetone using an ECD.

Bottom line, depending on your matrix and required LoQs, I would recommend you to start with the FID. It's simpler.

Cheers

Personally, I have previously developed a method for polar solvents in water and soil using GC-MS. That worked just fine. The absolutely crucial part is to chose an appropriate column for polar compounds and a non-interfereing solvent. We used DCM for the column we had setup. However, the column was not optimal, as the GC was also used for non-polar compounds. Consequently, we had to compromise with the quality for the polar solvents - especially the low boilers. But I would definitely use MS for detection.

I would recommend looking into EPA Method 8260D for inspiration

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-04/documents/method_8260d_update_vi_final_03-13-2017.pdf

Hi Victor,

as a starting point for you have a look at this link and into this two books:

https://de.slideshare.net/samikshasawant146/detectors-in-gc

"Chromatographic Detectors" - Design, Function and Operation

Raymond P.W. Scott

Chromatographic Science Series Volume 73

ISBN 0-8247-9779-5

https://www.amazon.de/Gas-Chromatography-Practical-Gerhard-Schomburg/dp/3527278796

Regards

Markus

Thanks for all the answers. They've been very helpful.