Noise normalisation in capillary electrophoresis using a diode array detector

When using capillary electrophoresis with a diode array detector, the wavelength at maximum absorbance is often chosen to quantify a given analyte. However, the background noise for every wavelength should be taken into account as it is by maximising the signal to noise ratio that the lowest limit of detection will be obtained. Here, we proposed an algorithm allowing to correct an electropherogram from its background absorption and to estimate the background noise. Applying it to all the electropherograms obtained in each wavelength channel allows obtaining the background noise as a function of the wavelength, which can be used to calculate the signal to noise ratio. This not only allows selecting the best wavelength to maximise the limit of detection of a given analyte, but also to generate a noise normalised base peak electropherogram (nn-BPE). It is shown that the noise normalised base peak electropherograms substantially improve the peaks visualisation. The algorithm is part of a graphic user interface that runs under MatLab environment; it does not require any programming knowledge and is freely available.