FOURIER-ANALYSIS OF MULTICOMPONENT CHROMATOGRAMS - THEORY OF NONCONSTANT PEAK WIDTH MODELS

Power spectrum (PS) based analysis of multicomponent chromatograms is extended to chromatograms containing peaks of different widths. For Poissonian chromatograms the PS is derived both for cases where peak width and retention time are independent of one another and for cases of linear peak broadening. Computer-generated chromatograms were used to test the derived model equations. The shape parameters and the number of single-component peaks can be estimated with good precision, although the precision of the estimated minimum and maximum peak widths is lower than that of their average. The results obtained by simulation are explored on the basis of the theoretically derived equations, and the relevance of the results in handling practical cases is emphasized.