Computer-assisted automatic peak recognition and result evaluation for analysis of chlorinated hydrocarbons in environmental samples

A data manipulation method has been developed for automatic peak recognition and result evaluation in the analysis of organic chlorinated hydrocarbons with dual-column gas chromatography. Based on the retention times of two internal standards, pentachlorotoluene and decachlorobiphenyl, the retention times of chlorinated hydrocarbons can be calibrated automatically and accurately. It is very convenient to identify the peaks by comparing the retention times of samples with the calibrated retention times calculated from the relative retention indices of standards. Meanwhile, with a suggested two-step evaluation method the evaluation coefficients and the suitable quantitative results of each component can be automatically achieved for practical samples in an analytical system using two columns with different polarities and two internal standards.