Without specifying a specific compound and providing a detailed GC method, it really is not possible to answer the question posed. Would this estimate be based on contracting out the analysis of the sample(s) or running them in-house? Do you have or own the instrumentation, software and all of the consumables and columns needed? Do you have the expertise in-house to set up and run all of the analysis methods required? Answers to these types of questions would be critical to know before an estimate could be made. The exact GC method needed would also have to be pre-developed too.

Now, I can provide you with a very generalized estimate if you contract the analysis out and it can be run quickly, using a conventional cap column with a std GC-FID system. This assumes that the method has already been developed, no special sample treatment or storage is required (samples are stable) and a validated method is provided (or has been tested to insure it is reliable, as applicable). I think a real-world estimate would be ~ $100-$200/sample using either a University lab or local contract laboratory. If the sample needs GC-MSD, the use of an other detector type or sample prep, then the cost could be much higher. If no method is provided, then you would have to pay a lab an upfront costs to develop one for you (at a cost of $1,000 to $$$$$$ more).

Cost per test depends on method development cost and the number of samples run. If only a few samples and a coupe of months method development time, cost per sample is quite high. Thousands of samples using a known method is much less.  Cost therefore ranges from $50/sample to over $1,000,000/sample  !

I completely agree to Bill Letter's answer.

Making research and routine HLPC and GC analyses for around 3 decades using standard detectors as well as special devices als MSDs, various sample preparations and so on, I may give you some hints if you specify the required analyses more detailled.

Best regards, Peter

    A 'good' answer to the question posed can probably be found through the process of working with people having expertise in the exact area of your concern. If the question is a general one, the answer  has as little value as the question. Analytical technology and chromatography are areas requiring skill and experience to practice well, and, rather like any advanced area of knowledge, there are significant layers of depth and complexity involved. 

           Similar to the experience of Peter Behrend, I have several decades of experience as a chromatographer (first publication on a gc method in 1968), so the answers may sound somewhat similar. The answer you seek involves asking a whole series of  correct  questions, among them: Is there a known separation of  similar samples having the accuracy, precision and reliability you need ? Is there anything at all similar?  A few hours in the library might help, provided you have enough expertise to do a good search and understand the results of the search. If not, you might consider hiring an expert and paying for professional services.

Thank you for the answers! 

I will be using a GC-FID system. The GC itself is present in the institute i will visit, but i will have to pay for columns, chemical standards, ferrules and hexane. 

Personally I have no expertise in GC methods, but i will be collaborating with labs that do (I did ask them about the estimates, but no answer yet, and I have a deadline, so sorry for asking so generally here). The study is similar to the following paper, so the method has been developed, but I will use a different type of GC. (Aldrich et al. 2009 "Prothoracic gland semiochemicals of green lacewings").

We expect a sample size of around 200.

For now I just need a basic estimate, so I will do more research on the topic and also work with the numbers you provided. 

Thank you

I have published results on similar compounds with similar Wittig reaction syntheses to those in Aldrich et al, 2009. I have numerous papers on use of dimethyldisulfide to derivatize natural and synthetic alkenes and dienes for identification of their structures by GC-MS, and they appear in my bibliography here in Research Gate.  (Several were for honeybee wax alkenes and dienes).  You will note that  Aldrich et al followed a published lead in green lacewings and discovered that the original published structure for a C14 alkene was wrong.  So they had to synthesize a number of unsaturated isomeric C14 compounds to  confirm natural structures they found in lacewings by using GC-MS on their DMDS adducts. This suggests strongly to me that you cannot be sure what you have without GC-MS analyses of your DMDS-derivatized isomeric alkenes and dienes and other compounds.   Fortunately this DMDS system is robust and simple, with unequivocal results by GC-MS. Notice they had to use a 60 meter column to separate some DMDS adduct isomers.

So the "type of GC" does not really matter, if you have the same DB-wax column.  But understanding what is present in your extracts is possible only by knowing which structural isomers are present- by use of GC-MS to identify fragments of their derivatives.  I expect that the Aldrich et al. paper is correct in everything they published on these lacewings.   Thus you would have to duplicate their results exactly first to use "semi-blind" GC-FID traces for your IDs, since all you have to go on are retention times of standard knowns. And you do not have them either, unless Jeff Aldrich has kindly sent you some.   That does happen sometimes if you ask, and his refrigerator has been blessed with continuous cold!   Note they made just a few of the suspected alkenes, and reported GC-MS results for other unknowns: so they pretty much needed the GC-MS.

So I suggest your analysis is problematic-- by injecting underivatized alkenes into a GC-FID. even if the analyses were cheap.  The acetamides  and skatole can probably be detected ok:  The conclusion of Aldrich's paper suggests this might be enough identification for some of the group. i.e.: Anyway, I had great fun doing this- Better Separations through Chemotaxonomy! 

Hi David,

it seems to me to be a good idea to let Laura explain more detailled what she plans to do before going into furthe details.

And by the way, I'm not so sure, that a DB-wax column is the ultimative answer to solving problems in the field of hydrocarbon and related compounds analysis.

And GC/MS is not THE ultimate solution to identify derivatives and isomers.

Regards, Peter

An example:

If my wife wants to go to Walmart and ask, how many money she should put into her pocket, I would answer - it's fine to explain in advance what you intend to buy.

Respected professors,

Even in my company, I was asked to give a rough estimate about the annual maintenance cost of ATD-GCMS, LCMS, MPAES, LDAR equipments etc etc...... I didn't understand how to.... but I have to submit by this Friday...... the lab is an environmental lab. They work on water, soil, air and stack samples. I am a microbiologist. Any suggestion would be more helpful as to how I can succeed in this....

Hello everyone,

I asked this question 2 years ago when I wrote a grant proposal. I was going to use the gas chromatography facilities of a coworker, so I wouldn't have to send them to a third party, which would've increased the cost. I got the estimated costs from colleagues that have used gas chromatography in their research before. Unfortunately this number for the cost was not tested by me (and therefore I cannot confirm this to be accurate), because the project is currently on hold.

This was the budget justification in the end:

45$ per sample. This includes required material such as the chromatography column, the ferrules, 2 ml and 15 ml vials, 2 ml vials with septum, limited volume vials, 2 gallons of hexane (including hexane filled vials that will be sent to collaborators for specimen collection) and chemical standards to test the detected compounds against. It does not include the cost for the labor.

I would very much like to hear whether other researchers agree on this number per sample being reasonable.

I had left this question be for a while, because the form of certain answers seemed quite demeaning (i.e., mentioning a wife-walmart budget). And although it is not easy to just give a number without having much information, we sometimes just need a rough estimate, when we are starting in a certain field. I hope this helps with that, but feel free to give other examples.

As you have found, a range of $45 to maybe $200- to $300 is becoming realistic. The "GC artiste" may want you to furnish a new GC capillary column for $1000 to thousands, but your somewhat polar natural products won't likely ruin an existing "general" GC column. Polar compounds may do. That is why thin-layer or short-column chromatography is done first on raw extracts- we pretty much did, that except for hydrocarbons.

In this vein, if you check your typical samples by evaporating to dryness, what is left? For example. a sticky solid residue is problematic for GC columns. Also, your standard lipids or related compounds could be bought in dilute form as mixtures, and/or reported in insect extracts. Gland extracts are likely to be "cleaner" than total insect extract. I think you have a pretty good handle on it now.

Thank you Laura Ma'am and David Sir.