Using singular value ratio for resolving peaks in HPLC-DAD data sets

A simple chemometrical method is proposed for resolving peaks in liquid chromatography with photodiode-array detection (HPLC-DAD). The approach is based on the technique of moving fixed-size windows along the retention time axis. Visual inspection of the ratio of singular values (SVR) may detect the existence of impurities. The proposed technique was tested for several real data sets, including a complex mixture with 12 components. Its high sensitivity for detecting impurities and determining the number of selective regions were confirmed for both simulated data sets and real cases.