A software package for the orthogonal polynomial approximation of analytical signals,including a simulation program for chromatograms and spectra

The computer package calculates the coefficients of the terms of orthogonal polynomial series used to approximate the analytical signal. Two different polynomial series (Hermite and Chebyshev) are used, depending on the number of peaks and spreading of the error of the approximation over the interval. The package is applied for data reduction and filtering of the analytical signal. Part of the package facilitates optimization in chromatography, by calculating the effect of varying chromatogram parameters on polynomial terms. Some scaling methods for the analytical signal are discussed. For testing purposes, a program that generates chromatograms is added to the computer package. The program simulates chromatographic peaks with user-defined peak parameters; noise can be added. The theoretical background is described and some results are presented.     

Use of Computer-Assisted Color Treatment of Chromatograms in the TLC Determination of Tartrazine

A procedure was developed for the treatment of thin-layer chromatograms in the analysis of the Tartrazine E102 synthetic food dye. The procedure includes the conversion of a TLC plate into the Windows 95/98 bit-mapped graphics format using scanning on a flatbed scanner followed by the processing of the image obtained with the Adobe Photoshop 5.0 program package in the RGB color mode (red, green, and blue color channels).     

Validation of a chromatography data analysis software

The performance of chromatography data analysis software packages is of cardinal importance when the precision and the accuracy of a chromatographic system are evaluated. Users cannot rely on a procedure generating chromatographic data of known accuracy. Holistic approaches cannot always be entirely trusted. We propose a new method consisting in validating a data analysis package against computer generated chromatograms of exactly known characteristics by feeding these chromatograms into the vendor supplied software and comparing the results supplied by the software and the exact answers. We simulated symmetrical and tailing chromatograms and processed these signals with the Agilent Technologies (formerly Hewlett-Packard) ChemStation software. The noise profile (i.e. the power spectrum of the baseline) was determined for a HPLC UV detector prior to the calculations, and chromatograms of different signal-to-noise ratios were used for the analysis. For every chromatogram, we simulated 25 replicates with identical signal-to-noise ratios but different noise sequences. In this manner, both the random and the systematic errors of the retention data and peak shape characteristics can be evaluated. When analyzing tailing peaks, we simulated the effects of extra-column band broadening and those of column overload. Our calculations show that the general performance of the data analysis system studied is excellent. The contribution of the random error originating from the data analysis procedure is in most cases negligible compared to the repeatability of the chromatographic measurement itself.     

Comparative qualitative analysis of nonylphenol isomers by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with chemometric resolution

The relationship between nonylphenol (NP) isomers' structures and their estrogenic potencies has been evaluated previously. However, due to their similarities in both chemical and physical properties, complete separation and identification remain strikingly difficult. In the present study, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is employed to separate commercial NP isomers. Both extracted ion chromatograms (EIC) based on selected ions known to be definitive for the suite of isomers, and the heuristic evolving latent projection (HELP) chemometric resolution method have been applied for the analysis and identification of the NP isomers. This method corrected the wrong identification of one isomer which was suspected based on the EIC data, and also was able to be applied for the determination of an additional isomer with low abundance. Overall, 15 NP isomers have been proposed by the HELP interpretation method. Pure component chromatograms and mass spectra have been extracted with the aid of chemometric resolution. The applicability of the commercial deconvolution software package automated mass spectral deconvolution and identification system (AMDIS) has also been tested against the HELP method for comparative presentation of pure component mass spectra.     

Liquid adsorption chromatography of polyethers: experiments and simulation

The adsorption behavior of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in reversed-phase chromatography is studied both experimentally and theoretically and a computer simulation of chromatograms is performed on the basis of these studies. The experimental conditions were: different reversed-phase adsorbents and a solvent methanol–water system as the mobile phase. At varying mobile phase compositions highly resolved chromatograms of PEG samples were obtained, in which all peaks could be identified, and the dependencies of the distribution coefficient on the degree of polymerization for PEG molecules were evaluated by processing these chromatograms. The data were interpreted by using a theory of homopolymers based on a continuum Gaussian chain model of flexible macromolecules and a slit-like model of pores of stationary phase. The theory proved to describe well the experimental data in the whole range of studied molecular masses, and the thermodynamic parameters characterizing interactions of ethylene oxide repeating units in PEG molecules with the adsorbent pore walls have been determined from the comparison of the theory with the experimental data. The dispersion of chromatographic peaks corresponding to individual oligomer molecules is also estimated. In the system studied the peak width occurred to be proportional to the distribution coefficient of corresponding macromolecule. The theory is used to develop a computer-assisted procedure for simulation of chromatograms for samples of linear homopolymers. Using the obtained data on the thermodynamic parameters and the estimates of peak dispersion, chromatograms are simulated for PEG samples at two different chromatographic conditions. These simulated chromatograms were in good quantitative agreement with the real chromatograms.     

Chemometric analysis of complex hyphenated data. Improvements of the component detection algorithm

Component detection algorithm (CODA) is a method to quickly extract the high-quality mass chromatograms from complex liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC/MS) data sets, saving operators hours of analysis time. It appeared, however, that mass chromatograms with a limited baseline problem were ignored. This paper describes several methods to increase the tolerance for mass chromatograms with a baseline.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic method with quantitative comparisons of whole chromatograms of raw and steamed Panax notoginseng

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method coupled with chromatographic pattern matching was developed to differentiate whole chromatograms of raw and steamed Panax notoginseng objectively and quantitatively. The major peaks differentiating chromatograms of raw and steamed samples were also identified for the first time in this herb. The raw and steamed P. notoginseng roots and its products were successfully differentiated. The quantitative differences between the chromatograms were correlated to the duration of steaming. Chromatographic pattern matching allows rapid, simple, automated, and quantitative comparisons of complex chromatograms. It is a useful tool in ensuring safety and quality of herbal products.     

Longest distance shifting: A simple and efficient approach for the alignment of shifted chromatographic peaks

The preprocessing of chromatograms, such as the alignment of retention time shifts, is often a crucial step in the proper data analysis chain. Here, an efficient approach to align shifted chromatographic signals, longest distance shifting, is presented and highlighted. The performance of this novel strategy was demonstrated by using both simulated chromatograms that covered the different kinds of retention time shifts and the real experimental chromatograms of Pudilan Xiaoyan Tablets obtained by high‐performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. The averaged correlation coefficient for experimental chromatograms were in the range of 0.9517–0.9840 and the peak factor was 0.9989. As a comparison, all the chromatograms have also been aligned using correlation optimized warping and Interval Correlation Optimized Shifting algorithms. The obtained results indicate that the longest distance shifting algorithm is simpler, faster and more effective, and will be potentially suitable for the alignment of other types of signals.     

Colachrom,a command language for chromatographic data processing

A command language for the interactive computer processing of chromatograms is described. Report data files, resulting from a peak evaluation program, are processed with single-line commands. Reference peaks for quantitative evaluation or for retention index calculations can be specified, compound names or response factors be assigned, etc. Customer-specific reports can be generated. Several commands operate on the unreduced digitized chromatograms, e.g., repeat peak evaluation with modified peak search parameters or with a user-corrected baseline. Commands can be combined into procedures for semi-automatic processing of series of chromatograms. Various forms of interactive graphical presentations supplement the command language.     

Peak alignment using wavelet pattern matching and differential evolution

Retention time shifts badly impair qualitative or quantitative results of chemometric analyses when entire chromatographic data are used. Hence, chromatograms should be aligned to perform further analysis. Being inspired and motivated by this purpose, a practical and handy peak alignment method (alignDE) is proposed, implemented in this research for one-way chromatograms, which basically consists of five steps: (1) chromatogram lengths equalization using linear interpolation; (2) accurate peak pattern matching by continuous wavelet transform (CWT) with the Mexican Hat and Haar wavelets as its mother wavelets; (3) flexible baseline fitting utilizing penalized least squares; (4) peak clustering when gap of two peaks is smaller than a certain threshold; (5) peak alignment using differential evolution (DE) to maximize linear correlation coefficient between reference signal and signal to be aligned. This method is demonstrated with both simulated chromatograms and real chromatograms, for example, chromatograms of fungal extracts and Red Peony Root obtained by HPLC-DAD. It is implemented in R language and available as open source software to a broad range of chromatograph users (http://code.google.com/p/alignde).     

Multiple peak analysis in gel permeation chromatography

Summary This paper describes the resolution of multimodal GPC chromatograms into their individual components through the use of two optimization techniques, applied sequentially. The principle of the method can be applied to any form of curve but only the mathematics for Gaussian curves is given. The method has been successfully tested against both model and real chromatograms. The model chromatograms consisted of overlapping, perfectly Gaussian, curves whilst the real chromatograms were obtained from oligomeric polyesters submitted for routine GPC analysis and contained from three to five components. These chromatograms, which would have been too complex to resolve by “pencil and ruler” techniques, were resolved by this method to a precision within experimental error.     

Filtering and integration of chromatographic data: a tool to improve calibration?

The effect of filtering and automated integration of chromatographic data on the calibration curve and detection limit was assessed. In a first approach simulated chromatograms were used to quantify the effects of data processing. Three types of filters were used: Savitzky-Golay, Fourier and Wavelet filter. The filter parameters chosen have been optimized in a previous study. The simulated data have been integrated by a commercial software package. The use of applying the DIN 32645 concept for the determination of the detection limit of chromatographic data is discussed and opposed to the concept of the method detection limit. Under the conditions investigated, filtering can improve the limit of detection up to a factor of three. This can be explained by the fact that filtering reduces the variance of the peak area and height and the limit of detection is mainly determined by their variance. However, the integration algorithm practically limits the possible improvements by filtering the data.     

Enhancement of chromatographic detail using infrared spectra from chromatography/infrared spectrometer systems

Working with chromatography/infrared spectroscopy data, the technique of local baseline correction in the calculation of the chromatographic intensities from each spectrum is used to provide improved chromatographic detection. The technique reduces chromatographic baseline drift, and produces broad-band (universal) chromatograms with noise levels approaching those obtained from narrow-band specific chromatograms. Chromatograms produced from the ratio of two selected band chromatograms can quickly profile a trend in a homologous series of compounds, test a chromatographic peak for compositional uniformity, or show shifts in composition across a polymer chromatographic series.     

Monolithic silica columns for high-efficiency chromatographic separations

A deconvolution methodology for overlapped chromatographic signals is proposed. Several single-wavelength chromatograms of binary mixtures, obtained in different runs at diverse concentration ratios of the individual components, were simultaneously processed (multi-batch approach), after being arranged as two-way data. The chromatograms were modelled as linear combinations of forced peak profiles according to a polynomially modified Gaussian equation. The fitting was performed with a previously reported hybrid genetic algorithm with local search, leaving all model parameters free. The approach yielded more accurate solutions than those found when each experimental chromatogram was fitted independently to the peak model (single-batch approach). The improvement was especially significant for those chromatograms where the peaks were severely affected by the tails of the preceding compounds. Peak shifts among chromatograms, which are a usual source of non-bilinearity, were modelled in a continuous domain instead of in a discrete way, which avoided some drawbacks associated with latent variable methods. An experimental design involving simulated chromatograms was applied to check the method performance. Five main factors affecting the deconvolution were examined: concentration pattern, chromatographic resolution, number of batches and replicates, and noise level, which were evaluated using first- and second-order figures of merit. The method was also tested on three real samples containing compounds showing different overlap. Four multi-batch deconvolution methods were considered differing in the nature of the processed information and kind of peak matching among chromatograms. In all cases, the multi-batch deconvolution yielded better performance than the single-batch approach.     

Gel-permeation chromatography. V. A study of “overloading effects”

In the calculation of molecular weight averages from GPC chromatograms and in the correction for zone broadening effects, it is assumed that the retention volumes of the individual species are not affected by the presence of the other components in the sample (linear fractionation process). This assumption was tested by the computer comparisons of the chromatograms of mixtures of narrow molecular weight distribution polystyrene standards and the envelopes of the individual chromatograms of the components of the mixtures. Disagreements between experimental and computer synthesized chromatograms were interpreted as non-linear fractionation effects. The investigation covered a range of molecular weights (1.8 × 10⁶ to 2100), molecular weight distributions (binary and seven component mixtures), and sample loadings (2 to 70 mg). Accurate normalizations of raw GPC chromatograms and calculations of molecular weight averages were made possible through an automated GPC apparatus using a high-speed computer for data acquisition and data reduction. It was found that some nonlinear fractionation effects (large disagreement between chromatograms of the mixture and the computed envelopes of the individual chromatograms of the components of the mixture) became more pronounced as sample loading was increased and as the molecular weight distribution of the sample narrows. The nonlinear effect was also found to be sensitive to the molecular weight of the sample.     

Nonlinear alignment of chromatograms by means of moving window fast Fourier transfrom cross‐correlation

The preprocessing of chromatograms is essential to modern chromatography for further qualitative and quantitative analysis, especially when chromatographic instruments are used for herb products analysis involving large number of samples. To accurately compare and analyze the obtained chromatograms, it is necessary to preprocess, especially align retention time shifts. Here moving window fast Fourier transform (FFT) cross‐correlation is introduced to perform nonlinear alignment of high‐throughput chromatograms. Since elution characteristics of chromatograms will produce local similarity in retention time shifts, moving window procedure seems to be a better substitute of segmentation steps. The retention time shifts can be calculated and accelerated by FFT cross‐correlation. The artifacts can be detected and eliminated from the retention time shifts profile since the continuity of moving window procedure. The proposed method is demonstrated in comparison with recursive alignment by FFT on chromatographic datasets from herb products analysis. It is shown that the proposed method can address nonlinear retention time shift problem in chromatograms with the simple moving window procedure, which will not introduce segments size optimization problem. In additional, the parameters are intuitive and easy to adjust, which makes it off‐the‐shelf toolbox for alignment of chromatograms.     

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry peak sorting algorithm

We report a novel peak sorting method for the two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC x GC/TOF-MS) system. The objective of peak sorting is to recognize peaks from the same metabolite occurring in different samples from thousands of peaks detected in the analytical procedure. The developed algorithm is based on the fact that the chromatographic peaks for a given analyte have similar retention times in all of the chromatograms. Raw instrument data are first processed by ChromaTOF (Leco) software to provide the peak tables. Our algorithm achieves peak sorting by utilizing the first- and second-dimension retention times in the peak tables and the mass spectra generated during the process of electron impact ionization. The algorithm searches the peak tables for the peaks generated by the same type of metabolite using several search criteria. Our software also includes options to eliminate non-target peaks from the sorting results, e.g., peaks of contaminants. The developed software package has been tested using a mixture of standard metabolites and another mixture of standard metabolites spiked into human serum. Manual validation demonstrates high accuracy of peak sorting with this algorithm.     

An entropy-based method for noise reduction of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry data

Entropy-based methods have been extensively used to measure the uncertainty information in a variety of fields. In this article, a novel information theory-based method for reducing noise of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) data was developed. The uncertainty existed in the LC/MS chromatograms was captured and evaluated by information entropy. By comparing the information entropy computationally derived from mass chromatograms, the good quality chromatograms and the noisy chromatograms can be distinguished. The proposed method was applied in processing LC/MS data of “Jing-Zhi-Guan-Xin” troche which is a well-known preparation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The obtained result indicated that this method is beneficial to reduce noise of LC/MS data of complicated chemical samples, such as TCM.     

遗传算法在色谱谱图解析中的应用

将遗传算法引入色谱峰解析程序 ,结合色谱峰EMG模型及峰形经验公式 ,实现了恒温色谱谱图的全自动解析。对模拟谱图和实验谱图进行了解析 ,取得了满意的结果。本文对遗传算法的运算控制及运算效率进行了研究和讨论     

High-performance liquid chromatography of non-polar retinoid isomers

Normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatograms of retinal, retinol and retinyl palmitate isomers using n-heptane-tert.-butyl methyl ether as mobile phase are presented. Methods for the synthesis of various isomers of these retinoids are described. This enables one to produce standard chromatograms and to select various isomers for cochromatography and the identification of the various peaks under study. Assignment of the peaks is based on chromatograms published previously in this journal. For the main isomers it is possible to get baseline separation of the commonly occurring isomeric forms in a reasonably short analysis time.