Integration of optimization methodology with expert systems

An expert system for ion-pair liquid chromatography of basic drugs is described. Integration of experimental optimization methodology into the expert system is shown to be feasible. The system consists mainly of four modules: an introductory module, and initial guess module, a formal optimization module and an adaptation module. The formal optimization module, based on a simple 2 × 2 factorial design and an overlapping resolution map, is integrated with the expert system. The expert system was validated on 20 basic drugs and their 60 synthetic mixtures combined by using a random method. The rate of succes was satisfactory.