RESULTS OF A COOPERATIVE STUDY COMPARING THE PRECISION OF PEAK HEIGHT AND AREA MEASUREMENTS IN LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY .2.

Presented are the results from a second cooperative test comparing the precision of peak area and height measurements in isocratic liquid chromatography with UV detection. Forty-two laboratories participated in the current study. Three mixtures were employed, each consisting of four components: benzyl alcohol, acetophenone, p-tolualdehyde, and anisole. One of these served as a calibration standard, while the other two served as test solutions to compare height and area measurements. The four components were selected because they all are readily separated on a reversed-phase column with isocratic conditions, are detectable at 254 nm, and contain different functional groups. In this study peak area measurements were consistently more precise and had less bias than height measurements. No significant differences in precision were noted between the two types of height measurements. These results suggest that peak area measurements are the preferred method of quantitation in isocratic liquid chromatography for well-resolved peaks.