Three-mode factor analysis of data on retention in normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

It is shown that the Snyder equation is not quite satisfactory for fitting retention data in normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on chemically bonded phases. This equation is a special case of the mathematical—statistical three-mode factor analysis model. This model, in its general form, has been used to fit two sets of literature data on the retention in normal-phase HPLC for 19 solutes on six adsorbents with two eluents, and for 39 solutes on three adsorbents with two eluents, respectively. This study represents the first application of three mode factor analysis with missing data, and also the first application of three-mode factor analysis in the field of the natural sciences. The accuracy of the fit of the observations and of the prediction of the missing data, for various numbers of extracted factors, is discussed.