THE DETERMINATION OF THE AREAS OF RESOLVED AND PARTIALLY RESOLVED CHROMATOGRAPHY PEAKS

Abstract

Gas chromatographic peaks were demonstrated to have the form of normal distribution curves. A mathematical treatment has been developed which permits the calculation of the areas of these curves from the statistical parameters, height of the mode (peak height), and standard deviation σ. The standard deviation equals the width of the peak at 0.882 of peak height. Methods given for the evaluation of the mutual effects of overlapping peaks have made it possible to obtain corrected peak heights. The standard deviation of the gas chromatography peak has been found to vary linearly with the retention time, thus permitting the graphical estimation of σ for use with corrected peak heights in the calculation of true areas for overlapping peaks. The method has also been extended to the treatment of skewed, overlapping peaks. The variation of σ with retention time, its constancy, and its relationship to the number of theoretical plates are discussed.