Derivatization Techniques for the Electron-Capture Detector

The formation between the electron-capture detector and detector-oriented derivatization techniques has many new applications. A combination of the reaction selectivity of the derivatizing reagents, coupled with the high sensitivity and selectivity of the detector, has proven to be the tool by which an immense amount of information on the levels and effects of a wide range of environmentally and biomedically important compounds has been gathered. With respect to derivation techniques, detection limits should be quoted at the optimal detector temperature for their determination. The mechanism of the electron-capture detector response is not solely a property of the reagent, and the same derivative of different compounds can show completely different mechanisms and therefore different optimal detector temperatures for maximum sensitivity. Also, detection limits are a property of the reagent and the structure of the compound that has been derivatized and a such are compound dependent. Thus, for any particular reagent, detection limits are both detector temperature- and compound-dependent. 7 tables, 5 figures. (DP)