This document introduces the unique retention time locking (RTL) software from Agilent Technologies, which revolutionizes the reliability and precision of gas chromatography analysis, primarily used for analyzing oxygenates in gasoline. With RTL, retention times (RT) can be reproduced within hundredths, even thousandths, of a minute from one Agilent GC based system to another, regardless of inlet, detector, operator, or location. This technique is an easy and economical way to improve confidence in results, reduce the risk of non-compliance, and reduce operating costs. All that is required is the RTL software, an Agilent 6890 or 6850 GC (equipped with Agilent's industry-leading electronic pneumatics control (EPC)) or an Agilent 6890/5973 inert MSD system, and the Agilent ChemStation for GC or MSD. RTL provides real performance advantages such as eliminating the need to update calibration table RTs, timed events, and integration events tables when transferring a 6890/6850 method, installing a column, or performing routine maintenance; ensuring results that are easy to compare, document, and explain; locking on a peak and precisely reproducing a 6890/6850 method developed in another laboratory; reproducing exactly the RTs from a published 6890/6850 method; allowing fast setup and testing while decreasing method runtime.
