Food, Flavors & Fragrances

Food, Flavors & Fragrance column

Agilent Food, Flavors & Fragrances GC Columns

Agilent GC columns for food, flavors, and fragrances are engineered to deliver the high resolution, reproducible selectivity, and exceptional inertness required for the analysis of complex natural products, volatile aromatic compounds, essential oils, fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), and chiral flavor/fragrance components. These columns support laboratories across food safety, authenticity testing, sensory quality control, nutraceutical characterization, and fragrance formulation—ensuring accurate identification and quantitation of both trace-level volatiles and composition-defining components.

Chrom Tech, as an authorized distributor of Agilent GC columns, offers a complete portfolio tailored to the diverse chemical challenges in this market. Highly polar HP-88 and CP-Sil 88 phases provide industry-leading resolution for cis/trans fatty acid methyl esters and are widely used for regulatory FAME methods including AOAC, AOCS, and ISO protocols. Select FAME and CP-Sil 88 for FAME further extend optimized selectivity for nutritional labeling, fatty acid profiling, and detection of minor FAME isomers.

For volatile flavor and fragrance compounds, CP-Wax 57 CB delivers excellent retention of highly polar alcohols, aldehydes, esters, and aroma-active components—ideal for characterizing essential oils, natural extracts, and fermentation products. For enantiomeric separations, Agilent’s advanced cyclodextrin-based phases—CycloSil-B, Cyclodex-B, HP-Chiral B, CP-Chirasil Val, and CP-Chirasil-Dex CB—provide high-efficiency chiral resolution for key optical isomers that determine aroma identity, purity, and sensory attributes.

Together, these columns form a comprehensive GC toolkit designed to address the full analytical scope of the food, flavors, and fragrance industries—from high-resolution fatty acid analysis to precise chiral separations and robust profiling of aromatic volatiles. Their optimized chemistries, thermal stability, and strict Agilent QC specifications ensure consistent, reliable performance for both routine quality control and advanced R&D workflows.
Key Definitions ▸
HP-88
A highly polar cyanopropyl siloxane GC column providing exceptional cis/trans resolution for fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). Widely used in AOAC, AOCS, and ISO regulatory methods for nutritional labeling and fatty acid profiling.
CP-Sil 88
A highly polar stationary phase engineered for detailed FAME analysis and precise separation of complex cis/trans isomer groups, ideal for food authenticity and nutritional compliance testing.
Select FAME
A high-resolution GC phase optimized for accurate profiling of fatty acids, including minor isomers. Select FAME enhances separation efficiency for complex nutritional and regulatory analyses.
CP-Sil 88 for FAME
A CP-Sil 88 variant specifically tuned for fatty acid methyl ester separations. Provides consistent retention and exceptional resolution of geometric and positional isomers.
CP-Wax 57 CB
A polar polyethylene glycol (PEG) phase offering excellent selectivity for alcohols, aldehydes, esters, and oxygenated volatiles found in flavors, fragrances, essential oils, and fermented products.
CycloSil-B
A cyclodextrin-based chiral GC phase providing high-efficiency enantiomeric separations for aroma-active chiral compounds used in fragrance formulation and authenticity testing.
Cyclodex-B
A beta-cyclodextrin chiral GC column offering strong enantioselectivity for chiral volatiles in flavors, fragrances, essential oils, and botanical extracts.
HP-Chiral B
A chiral GC column designed for resolving enantiomers of key flavor and fragrance molecules where optical purity directly affects aroma identity and sensory characteristics.
CP-Chirasil Val
A valine-based chiral stationary phase offering strong enantioselectivity for alcohols, esters, and other chiral volatiles used in food and fragrance analysis.
CP-Chirasil-Dex CB
A cyclodextrin-derivatized chiral GC phase providing precise enantiomeric separations for optically active components that define aroma profiles in flavors, fragrances, essential oils, and botanicals.
Frequently Asked Questions ▸
Which GC columns are best for analyzing fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs)?
HP-88, CP-Sil 88, Select FAME, and CP-Sil 88 for FAME are ideal for FAME profiling. These highly polar phases offer superior cis/trans resolution and are widely used in AOAC, AOCS, ISO, and nutritional labeling methods for accurate fatty acid quantitation.
What columns are recommended for separating chiral flavor and fragrance compounds?
CycloSil-B, Cyclodex-B, HP-Chiral B, CP-Chirasil Val, and CP-Chirasil-Dex CB are designed for high-efficiency enantiomeric separations. These cyclodextrin and amino-acid-based phases deliver strong chiral selectivity for aroma-active molecules where optical purity is essential for sensory identity and regulatory authenticity.
Which GC column is best for flavor and fragrance volatiles such as esters, aldehydes, and alcohols?
CP-Wax 57 CB is well suited for oxygenated volatiles commonly found in essential oils, fermented products, botanical extracts, and natural flavor materials. Its polar PEG phase provides excellent retention and resolution for alcohols, aldehydes, esters, and other aroma-impact compounds.
What makes Agilent’s food, flavors, and fragrances GC columns suitable for regulatory workflows?
These columns are engineered with highly reproducible chemistries, optimized selectivity, and low bleed performance to meet strict AOAC, AOCS, ISO, FDA, EFSA, and global regulatory requirements. Their precise isomer resolution, chiral separation capability, and robust QC testing support accurate, trace-level analysis in compliance-driven environments.