Statistical evaluation of an analytical GC/MS method for the determination of long chain fatty acids

In-depth evaluation of an analytical method to detect and quantify long chain fatty acids (C8–C16) at trace level concentrations (25–1000 μg/l) is presented. The method requires derivatization of the acids with methanolic boron trifluoride, separation, and detection by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The calibration experiments passed all the tested performance criteria such as linearity, homoscedasticity, and ruggedness. The detection limits and related quantities were computed by applying the method detection limit, and the calibration line approximation. The values obtained by applying the latter approach were more reliable and consistent with the actual statistical theory of detection decisions and yielded the following concentrations: C8, 87.6 μg/l; C10, 45.2 μg/l; C11, 39.9 μg/l; C12, 37.7 μg/l; C14, 41.4 μg/l and C16, 40.6 μg/l. Two different gas–liquid chromatographic columns were tested and similar results achieved, which shows the ruggedness of the method.