High-resolution chromatography of complex organic mixtures.

The high-resolution uv analyzer has been used to investigate the effect of diet on urine profile. In addition, new applications in the food and beverage industry appear promising. More than 100compounds, acidic to basic, can be separated. The clinical analyst may be interested in scanning a wide variety of compounds or in rapid separation of only a few compounds. For the latter purpose, the effect of changing the gradient elution program has been investigated, and conditions have been defined for rapid analysis of specific regions of the chromatogram. Additionally, the chromatogram may be simplified by fractionation-for example, by solvent extraction-before high-resolution analysis. The sensitivity of the instrument is often limited by baseline drift caused by absorbance of the buffer. Various methods for compensating for this drift have been investigated. Reproducibility of retention time, response, and computerized data processing are discussed.