Silylation is the most prevalent derivatization method as it readily volatizes the sample and
therefore very suitable for non-volatile samples for GC analysis. Silylation is the
introduction of a silyl group into a molecule, usually in substitution for active hydrogen
such as dimethylsilyl [SiH(CH3)2], t-butyldimethylsilyl [Si (CH3)2C(CH3)3] and
chloromethyldimethylsilyl [SiCH2Cl(CH3)2]. Replacement of active hydrogen by a silyl
group reduces the polarity of the compound and reduces hydrogen bonding (Pierce, 1968).
Many hydroxyl and amino compounds regarded as nonvolatile or unstable at 200 – 300 °C
have been successfully analyzed in GC after silylation (Lin et al., 2008 & Chen et al., 2007).
The silylated derivatives are more volatile and more stable and thus yielding narrow and
symmetrical peaks (Kataoka, 2005).