plug im! software for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with vacuum ultraviolet detection – A tutorial

The use of two-dimensional gas chromatography hyphenated with vacuum ultraviolet absorbance spectroscopy (GC×GC-VUV) is constantly finding new applications. To qualitatively and quantitively exploit the information obtained with this type of analysis, suitable softwares are needed. However, to date, existing multidimensional chromatography softwares are not fully adapted to this type of data and offer only limited processing capabilities. Moreover, other solutions often rely on homemade programs that are not accessible to new users. For these reasons, several data processing modules for GC×GC-VUV data were developed and were integrated into the free access plug im! software (https://www.plugim.fr/). The usage guidelines and functionalities of the proposed modules are described, and several video tutorials are supplied. The proposed modules allow to visualise and preprocess GC×GC-VUV data. The extraction of spectra for user-designed template zones is also made possible which enables their further use for both quantification and spectral decomposition. These tools result in more sensitive methods thanks to the increase of the signal-to-noise ratio through application of adapted data preprocessing. •Data processing modules dedicated to all three possible types of GC×GC-VUV data (1D, 2D and full 3D data) were contributed.•Adapted GC×GC-VUV data preprocessing methods allowing to significantly improve signal-to-noise ratio were integrated.•Identification template creation and extraction of absorbance spectra from all template zones was made possible.•Easy mapping of sample composition trough combination of several ‘spectral filters’ was proposed.