Chemometrics approach to the optimization of ion chromatographic analysis of transition metal cations for routine work

The chemometrics approach was applied for the optimization of the ion chromatographic analysis for transition metal cations in order to obtain optimal operating conditions for routine work. In order to achieve this goal the usefulness of the sigmoidal functions for the evaluation of the two different chromatographic performance goals (resolution and analysis time) was tested. The chromatograms were evaluated by using a chromatographic response function, which was expressed as a product of two desirability functions formed using the mentioned sigmoidal functions. The experiments were performed according to a face centred cube response surface experimental design. The qualities of the obtained chromatograms were calculated using the chromatographic response function and modelled with polynomial models and models based on the counter-propagation artificial neural networks. Optimal operating conditions for the routine work were obtained as predicted by the polynomial model. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.