TY - JOUR AU - Ghasemi Damavandi, Hamidreza AU - Sen Gupta, Ananya AU - Nelson, Robert K. AU - Reddy, Christopher M. PY - 2016 DA - 2016/11/28 TI - Interpreting comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography using peak topography maps with application to petroleum forensics JO - Chemistry Central Journal SP - 75 VL - 10 IS - 1 AB - Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography $$(GC \times GC)$$provides high-resolution separations across hundreds of compounds in a complex mixture, thus unlocking unprecedented information for intricate quantitative interpretation. We exploit this compound diversity across the $$(GC \times GC)$$topography to provide quantitative compound-cognizant interpretation beyond target compound analysis with petroleum forensics as a practical application. We focus on the $$(GC \times GC)$$topography of biomarker hydrocarbons, hopanes and steranes, as they are generally recalcitrant to weathering. We introduce peak topography maps (PTM) and topography partitioning techniques that consider a notably broader and more diverse range of target and non-target biomarker compounds compared to traditional approaches that consider approximately 20 biomarker ratios. Specifically, we consider a range of 33–154 target and non-target biomarkers with highest-to-lowest peak ratio within an injection ranging from 4.86 to 19.6 (precise numbers depend on biomarker diversity of individual injections). We also provide a robust quantitative measure for directly determining “match” between samples, without necessitating training data sets. SN - 1752-153X UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13065-016-0211-y DO - 10.1186/s13065-016-0211-y ID - Ghasemi Damavandi2016 ER -