Analytical methods, calibration

Within collaborative work on element concentrations in a number of biological reference materials using solid sampling and other analytical methods, calibration of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in BCR CRM 185 Bovine liver with solid CRMs was performed for each element with a reference material of the same matrix, NIST SRM 1577... 

Fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory are applied to various problems in chemistry. The applications range from component identification and spectral Hbrary search to fuzzy pattern recognition or calibrations of analytical methods. 

Examine a procedure from Standard Methods for the Analysis of Waters and Wastewaters (or another manual of standard analytical methods), and identify the steps taken to compensate for interferences, to calibrate equipment and instruments, to standardize the method, and to acquire a representative sample. 

An external standardization allows a related series of samples to be analyzed using a single calibration curve. This is an important advantage in laboratories where many samples are to be analyzed or when the need for a rapid throughput of samples is critical. Not surprisingly, many of the most commonly encountered quantitative analytical methods are based on an external standardization. 

Quantitative mass spectrometry, also used for pharmaceutical appHcations, involves the use of isotopicaHy labeled internal standards for method calibration and the calculation of percent recoveries (9). Maximum sensitivity is obtained when the mass spectrometer is set to monitor only a few ions, which are characteristic of the target compounds to be quantified, a procedure known as the selected ion monitoring mode (sim). When chlorinated species are to be detected, then two ions from the isotopic envelope can be monitored, and confirmation of the target compound can be based not only on the gc retention time and the mass, but on the ratio of the two ion abundances being close to the theoretically expected value. The spectrometer cycles through the ions in the shortest possible time. This avoids compromising the chromatographic resolution of the gc, because even after extraction the sample contains many compounds in addition to the analyte. To increase sensitivity, some methods use sample concentration techniques. 

Because of the complex nature of the discharge conditions, GD-OES is a comparative analytical method and standard reference materials must be used to establish a unique relationship between the measured line intensities and the elemental concentration. In quantitative bulk analysis, which has been developed to very high standards, calibration is performed with a set of calibration samples of composition similar to the unknown samples. Normally, a major element is used as reference and the internal standard method is applied. This approach is not generally applicable in depth-profile analysis, because the different layers encountered in a depth profile of ten comprise widely different types of material which means that a common reference element is not available. 

The following procedure has been recommended by the Analytical Methods Committee of the Society for Analytical Chemistry for the determination of small amounts of arsenic in organic matter.20 Organic matter is destroyed by wet oxidation, and the arsenic, after extraction with diethylammonium diethyldithiocarbamate in chloroform, is converted into the arsenomolybdate complex the latter is reduced by means of hydrazinium sulphate to a molybdenum blue complex and determined spectrophotometrically at 840 nm and referred to a calibration graph in the usual manner. 

The use of an integral video screen in instruments presents very great advantages, both in the ease of operation and in the ability to develop and understand analytical methods. Complete analytical records can be stored in the instrument and a visual display of good calibration curves can be stored in memory and recalled at will. It is most useful to have a graphical display of atomisation peaks when using a furnace where a distinction can be made of the total absorbance peak and that due to the analyte absorbance. 

Because physicochemical cause-and-effect models are the basis of all measurements, statistics are used to optimize, validate, and calibrate the analytical method, and then interpolate the obtained measurements the models tend to be very simple (i.e., linear) in the concentration interval used. 

The quality control unit in a cosmetics company supervised the processing of the weekly batch of shampoo by determining, among other parameters, the viscosity and the dry residue. Control charts showed nothing spectacular. (See Fig. 4.10, top.) The cusum charts were just as uneventful, except for that displaying the dry residue (Fig. 4.10, middle and bottom) The change in trend in the middle of the chart was unmistakable. Since the analytical method was very simple and well-proven, no change in laboratory personnel had taken place in the period, and the calibration of the balances was done on a weekly basis, suspicions turned elsewhere. A first hypothesis,... 

Rows 1-7, item Titr 0.5% subtracted typical of temporary change in the production process, calibration procedure, or analytical method, especially if values 1-7 were obtained in one production campaign or measurement run. 

Option (Valid) presents a graph of relative standard deviation (c.o.v.) versus concentration, with the relative residuals superimposed. This gives a clear overview of the performance to be expected from a linear calibration Signal = A + B Concentration, both in terms of (relative) precision and of accuracy, because only a well-behaved analytical method will show most of the residuals to be inside a narrow trumpet -like curve this trumpet is wide at low concentrations and should narrow down to c.o.v. = 5% and rel. CL = 10%, or thereabouts, at medium to high concentrations. Residuals that are not randomly distributed about the horizontal axis point either to the presence of outliers, nonlinearity, or errors in the preparation of standards. 

To demonstrate the validity of an analytical method, data regarding working range/ calibration, recovery, repeatability, specificity and LOQ have to be provided for each relevant sample matrix. Most often these data have to be collected from several studies, e.g., from several validation reports of the developer of the method, the independent laboratory validation or the confirmatory method trials. If the intended use of a pesticide is not restricted to one matrix type and if residues are transferred via feedstuffs to animals and finally to foodstuffs of animal origin, up to 30 sets of the quality parameters described above are necessary for each analyte of the residue definition. Table 2 can be used as a checklist to monitor the completeness of required data. 

Komit6 for Levnedsmidler (NMKL)]. The standard presents a universal validation approach for chemical analytical methods in the food sector. This includes methods for the main constituents and also for trace components. Therefore, the NMKL procedure focuses on primary validation parameters, such as specificity, calibration, trueness, precision, LOD or LOQ and does not refer to special requirements of pesticide residue analysis. 

Verification implies that the laboratory investigates trueness and precision in particular. Elements which should be included in a full validation of an analytical method are specificity, calibration curve, precision between laboratories and/or precision within laboratories, trueness, measuring range, LOD, LOQ, robustness and sensitivity. The numbers of analyses required by the NMKL standard and the criteria for the adoption of quantitative methods are summarized in Table 10. 

In summary, official German analytical methods for pesticide residues are always validated in several laboratories. These inter-laboratory studies avoid the acceptance of methods which cannot readily be reproduced in further laboratories and they do improve the ruggedness of analytical procedures applied. The recently introduced calibration with standards in matrix improves the trueness of the reported recovery data. Other aspects of validation (sample processing, analyte stability, extraction efficiency) are not considered. 

If analytical methods are validated in inter-laboratory validation studies, documentation should follow the requirements of the harmonized protocol of lUPAC. " However, multi-matrix/multi-residue methods are applicable to hundreds of pesticides in dozens of commodities and have to be validated at several concentration levels. Any complete documentation of validation results is impossible in that case. Some performance characteristics, e.g., the specificity of analyte detection, an appropriate calibration range and sufficient detection sensitivity, are prerequisites for the determination of acceptable trueness and precision and their publication is less important. The LOD and LOQ depend on special instmmentation, analysts involved, time, batches of chemicals, etc., and cannot easily be reproduced. Therefore, these characteristics are less important. A practical, frequently applied alternative is the publication only of trueness (most often in terms of recovery) and precision for each analyte at each level. No consensus seems to exist as to whether these analyte-parameter sets should be documented, e.g., separately for each commodity or accumulated for all experiments done with the same analyte. In the latter case, the applicability of methods with regard to commodities can be documented in separate tables without performance characteristics. 

Residue study protocols typically either include quality specifications for analytical procedures or refer to a written analytical method that includes such specifications. The protocol for an LSMBS should also include analytical quality specifications, either directly or by reference to a method. Analytical specifications usually include minimum and maximum recovery of analyte from fortified control samples, minimum number of such fortifications per set of samples, minimum linearity in calibration, minimum stability of response to injection of calibration solutions, and limits of quantitation and of detection. 

Principles and Characteristics There are basically two ways of obtaining accurate results in micro and trace analyses, namely either use of standard reference materials (if available) for calibrating analytical methods, or else use of highly accurate methods. Table 8.69... 

The main advantages of CPAA as a surface characterisation method are that it requires no sample preparation, its high accuracy and its low detection limits. It is an independent method, because no standard samples calibrated by other methods are needed, so that its value may lie in its ability to calibrate standard samples for other, more routine analytical methods. 

Today, analytical chemistry has such a wide variety of methods and techniques at its disposal that the search for general fundamentals seems to be very difficult. But independent from the concrete chemical, physical and technical basis on which analytical methods work, all the methods do have one principle in common, namely the extraction of information from samples by the generation, processing, calibration, and evaluation of signals according to the logical steps of the analytical process. 

Analytical chemistry is a problem-solving science. Independent from the concrete analytical method, the course of action, called analytical process, is always very similar. The analytical process starts with the analytical question on the subject of investigation and forms a closed chain to the answer to the problem. Using a proper sampling technique a test sample is taken that is adequately prepared and then measured. The measured data are evaluated on the basis of a correct calibration and then interpreted with regard to the object under study. 

The underlying calibration procedure of a newly developed analytical method has to be examined by basic validation studies to determine the reliability of the method and its efficiency in comparison with traditional methods. In order to ensure long-term stability, it is necessary to perform revalidations, which can be combined with the use of quality control charts, over meaningful time periods. 

The linearity of the detector can be obtained by diluting the analyte stock solution and measuring the associated responses, while the linearity of the analytical method can be determined by making a series of concentrations of the analyte from independent sample preparations (weighing and spiking) [15]. It is also essential that the basic calibration linear curve be obtained by using independent samples, and not by using samples that have been prepared by dilution and injected into HPLC/GC, or spotted on one TLC plate. 

The DL and QL for chromatographic analytical methods can be defined in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio, with values of 2 1-3 1 defining the DL and a value of 10 1 defining the QL. Alternatively, in terms of the ratio of the standard deviation of the blank response, the residual standard deviation of the calibration line, or the standard deviation of intercept (s) and slope (5) can be used [40, 42], where ... 

For a graphical comparison of the correlation [r(Sr)] and the standard deviation of the samples used for calibration (Sr), a value is entered for the SEP (or SEE) for a specified analyte range as indicated through the standard deviation of that range (Sr). The resultant graphic displays the Sr (as the abscissa) versus the r (as the ordinate). From this graphic it can be seen how the correlation coefficient increases with a constant SEP as the standard deviation of the data increases. Thus when comparing correlation results for analytical methods, one must consider carefully the standard deviation of the analyte values for the samples used in order to make a fair comparison. For the example shown, the SEE is set to 0.10, while the correlation is scaled from 0.0 to 1.0 for Sr values from 0.10 to 4.0. 

---