DECODING COMPLEX MULTICOMPONENT CHROMATOGRAMS BY FOURIER-ANALYSIS

The present work discusses the many attributes - classified as observa ble, intrinsic or hidden - which can be conceived for any complex mult icomponent chromatogram. Discussion ensues on how to decode such chrom atograms, i.e. determining the intrinsic and/or hidden attributes from those which can be observed. There are two main steps. The first is b ased on Fourier Analysis (FA) and determines the intrinsic attributes: i.e., the number of single components which can be detected; their di stribution over the available chromatographic space and peak capacity. The second evaluates the hid den attributes: i.e., the effects of inc omplete separation, the number of peaks created by one or more single components as well as their degree of purity. The hidden attributes ca n be obtained by applying the theory of Statistical Degree of peak Ove rlapping (SDO) and the paper goes into the extent to which the SDO ste p depends on the FA results. In addition, the role Exponential distrib ution plays as a point of reference for the distribution of both singl e component peak position interdistances and peak heights is discussed . Finally, a simplified graphical FA procedure is presented and the ma in achievements in this field are reviewed.