A chromatography system includes a gradient delay volume defined as an overall fluid volume between where gradient is proportioned until an inlet of a chromatography column, a pump pumping a flow of gradient; and at least one valve located downstream from the pump, the at least one valve having a plurality of ports including an inlet port that receives the flow of gradient from the pump and an outlet port through which the flow of gradient exits the at least one valve, the at least one valve having at least two positions. A first position of the at least two positions of the at least one valve increases the gradient delay volume of the chromatography system relative to when the at least one valve is in a second position.

A process which, on the basis of a provided test sample including a mix of a plurality of preknown sample components and on the basis of provided absolute sample separation properties for each of the sample components, includes experimentally determining a real sample separation result by executing a sample separation method for separating the test sample by a sample separation apparatus, and determining a real value of at least one operation parameter based on a comparison between the absolute sample separation properties and the real sample separation result for characterizing a real course of the sample separation method.

One mode of the present invention is a quantitative analysis method of quantifying a target compound contained in a sample derived from an organism, including: a category selection step of receiving selection by a user of one category containing a target sample from among categories determined in advance for the sample; a preprocessing step of performing a predetermined preprocessing including derivatization on the target sample; a measurement execution step of executing GC/MS analysis on the preprocessed target sample based on analysis condition information provided from a database storing the analysis condition information for the GC/MS analysis and calibration curve information for quantification by a standard addition method for each category; and a quantitative processing step of performing quantitative processing based on data obtained in the measurement execution step using the calibration curve information corresponding to the selected category, the calibration curve information being provided by the database.

Provided are systems and methods for adapting to volume variations in microfluidic chromatography columns. A column is calibrated by comparing a parameter of the column with a same parameter of a reference column and generating, by a processor, an adjustment factor in response to the comparison between the parameter of the column with a same parameter of the reference column. Volume differences between the calibrated column and the reference column are compensated for by integrating the generated adjustment factor into a sample separation involving the calibrated column.

A liquid chromatography measurement method includes: switching between a first measurement mode using a liquid chromatography method in which hemoglobin A1c and a hemoglobin variant are measured in a measurement sample by sequentially delivering a first component-separating eluent, a second component-separating eluent and a wash eluent to an analytical column, and a second measurement mode using the liquid chromatography method in which the hemoglobin A1c is measured by sequentially delivering the first component-separating eluent and the wash eluent to the analytical column; delivering the wash eluent in the first measurement mode prior to an influence from the second component-separating eluent disappearing such that a first retention time of the hemoglobin A1c in the first measurement mode and a second retention time of the hemoglobin A1c in the second measurement mode are substantially the same as each other; and delivering the first component-separating eluent after the wash eluent.

Provided is an analytical measurement device system 10 having a plurality of units (liquid-sending pump 12; detector 15) including: a sensor (flow sensor 121; light amount detector 151) provided in at least one unit among the plurality of units, for detecting the condition of a specific portion of the unit; a determination section (flow rate determiner 122; light amount determiner 152) provided in the unit, for receiving a signal from the sensor and for determining an overall condition of the unit based on a predetermined determination criterion; a storage section (flow-rate determination information storage section 123; light-amount determination information section 153) provided in the unit, for storing the determination criterion and a result of the determination by the determination section; and a display section (flow-rate determination result display section 124; light-amount determination result display section 154) provided in the unit, for displaying the determination result.

An online gas chromatograph is provided. The online gas chromatograph includes a sample inlet and at least one chromatographic column operably coupled to the sample inlet. At least one valve is interposed between the sample inlet and the at least one chromatographic column. A detector is fluidically coupled to the at least one chromatographic column. A controller is coupled to the detector and to the at least one valve, the controller is configured to control flow from the sample inlet through the chromatograph using the at least one valve. The controller is configured to generate a plurality of sequential calibration cycles, where each calibration cycle has a calibration gas purge operation. The first calibration gas purge operation lasts longer than the second calibration gas purge operation.

A method for calibrating at least one analytic device with repeated hardware components is disclosed and comprises providing at least one calibrator sample i having a known target value of a concentration of at least one analyte; at least one measuring step, wherein the measuring step comprises conducting at least one measurement on the calibrator sample using the analytic device, wherein at least one detector signal s.sub.ijk is acquired; at least one calibration step, wherein a relationship between the detector signal and the concentration of the analyte and/or between the detector signal and a theoretical signal value is determined, wherein the calibration step comprises providing at least one parametrized function; determining calibration values by conducting a calibration based on the parametrized function; and determining an analysis function on basis of an inverse of the parametrized function and the determined calibration values.

An automated method of monitoring a state of an analyzer is provided including a mass spectrometer (MS) with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source coupled to a liquid chromatography (LC) stream, including monitoring an electrospray ionization current of the ESI source and identifying a condition of multiple conditions of the analyzer based on the monitored ionization current of the ESI source, one of the conditions being a presence of a dead volume in a liquid chromatography stream of the analyzer downstream of an LC column of the LC stream.

A method of quantifying a target analyte by mass spectrometry includes obtaining a mass spectrometer signal comprising a first calibrator signal, comprising a second calibrator signal, and potentially comprising a target analyte signal from a single sample comprising a first known quantity of a first calibrator, comprising a second known quantity of a second calibrator, and potentially comprising a target analyte. The first known quantity and the second known quantity are different, and wherein the first calibrator, the second calibrator, and the target analyte are each distinguishable in the single sample by mass spectrometry. The method also includes quantifying the target analyte in the single sample using the first calibrator signal, the second calibrator signal, and the target analyte signal.