Improvement in Efficiency of Uncertainty Evaluation in Chromatography — Chemometrical Analysis of Limits of Detection, Decision and Quantitation, and Precision Profile

The purpose of this review is to describe definitions, estimation and applications about figures of merit to represent uncertainty of measurements in instrumental analyses, among which are limits of detection, decision and quantitation, and precision profiles, adopted in ISO 11843-7, JIS Z 8462-7 or Japanese Pharmacopoeia. These quantities are illustrated by some examples: absolute calibrations, internal standard methods, isocratic elution and gradient elution of liquid chromatography, and daily inspections of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry systems. Standard deviations (SDs) of measurements underlie the above concepts and a method for estimating the SDs which can obviate the need for repetition of measurements with real samples is briefly explained. The above examples are analyzed with available computer software.