THE QUALITY OF QUANTITATION IN CHROMATOGRAPHY .2. OPTIMIZING THE QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS

An information theoretical derivation of the optimal separation expres sed in required column length of chromatographical peaks is given. The criterion is the precision of the estimation of the peak intensities. Fully separated peaks happened to be not optimal; a much lower resolu tion corresponding with a small columnlength is to be preferred. Perha ps more important is the obtained strong reduction of the analysis tim e than gain in precision to allow very fast chromatography usable for instance process control. The not completely resolved peaks require sp ecial signal processing software using as much preinformation about si gnal shape and retention time as possible.