of the GC/MS system. The MS not only had the necessary sensitivity but could also partly handle the relatively high accompanying flow of gas which was pumped away by the vacuum system of the mass spectrometer. However, at that time, the capillary column had not been invented (although the concept had been suggested by Martin in his introductory lecture at the 1956 Symposium on Vapor Phase Chromatography) and, thus, the relatively large gas flow rates were difficult to accommodate by direct GC-MS coupling. The problem associated with high gas flow rates and low solute concentration provoked the development of a number of vapor concentrator interfaces that selectively removed the carrier gas and, at the same time, increased the concentration of solute. These devices helped render the GC/MS system viable and useful before the advent of capillary columns. At this time, the chromatographer saw the mass spectrometer as some form of elaborate detector while the mass spectroscopist saw

Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) Systems Just four years after the first disclosure of GC as an effective separation technique by James and Martin in 1953, Holmes and Morrell, successfully combined the gas chromatograph with the mass spectrometer to produce the first tandem system. The authors connected the column outlet directly to the mass spectrometer employing a split-flow system. The mass spectrometer was a natural choice for the first combination instrument, as it could easily accept samples presented as a vapor