Development of analyte derivation methods
Sometimes, the target molecules have either low response factors with certain detectors or inadequate properties, such as polarity, to be well separated by a chromatographic column. In such cases, it is of great interest to transform the target molecule into one that can be more easily analysed and detected.
The derivatisation reaction must be rapid and complete to determine the concentration of the target species from the concentration of the reaction product and the stoichiometry of the derivatisation reaction. This is the case, for example, for the measurement of aldehydes in air using the standard reference method.