An optimization strategy for charged aerosol detection to linearize the detector response in the multicomponent quantitative analysis of Qishen Yiqi dripping pills

Charged aerosol detection, increasingly recognized for quantifying pharmaceutical compounds with weak ultraviolet absorption, is a universal detection technique for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Charged aerosol detection shows a non-linear response with increasing analyte concentration over a wide range, limiting its versatility in various analytical applications. In this work, a co-optimization strategy for power function value (PFV) and power laws was proposed and applied to broaden the linear range of the standard curve of saccharides in Qishen Yiqi dripping pills using the HPLC-charged aerosol detection (HPLC-CAD) method. Power function values for all analytes were optimized based on empirical models. Subsequently, the optimum power laws were investigated based on a preferred PFV. Additionally, various regression equations were evaluated to ensure the accuracy and precision of the results. With the optimized PFV and power law, the ordinary least squares model demonstrated a satisfactory fit. The optimal PFVs and power laws expanded the standard curve's linear range by 2.7 times compared to default settings, reducing model uncertainty. This paper presents a vital method for developing a multi-component quantitative HPLC-CAD approach without external data transformation outside the provided software, especially suitable for analytical applications of traditional Chinese medicine with significant quality differences.