Evaluation of separation quality in two-dimensional hyphenated chromatography

In this paper, a novel criterion named the overlap index (OVI) has been pro posed to evaluate the separation quality in two-dimensional hyphenated chro matography. This criterion, which is obtained from the maximum value of the Gram determinant constructed by the key spectra, can reveal the degree of two-dimensional hyphenated chromatographic separation. The key spectra are selected based on the so-called D-optimal criterion. According to its geome trical sense meaning the volume spanned by the constructed vectors, OVI cri terion can practically reflect the overlap degree of chromatographic peaks. The OVI criterion is further interpreted by comparing the resolution of tw o-dimensional data into pure chromatograms and spectra. The successful appl ication of this OVI criterion to both of simulated two-dimensional hyphenat ed data and the real case in analyzing the six reference phenolic compounds from Ginkgo biloba L-leaves shows its reliability and practicality. (C) 20 01 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.