Analytical Services
Spectral Analysis
A Fortune-50 company came to us asking three questions about automatic inspection of pharmaceutical compounds:
v How many wavelengths will be needed to distinguish among the spectra of mixtures of the compounds in one second;
v How small a cross-contamination can be detected among them at this speed; and
v How can these answers be re-determined when the company changes the mixtures, as it does periodically?
We knew that, in order to avoid “cooking” the compounds, the light source could not be intense enough to collect high-precision data in one second. Instead, a spectral scanner would need to use a limited number of wavelengths, or even broad spectral bands, that could sufficiently distinguish the spectra.
This classic application of principal components analysis (PCA) allowed us to specify the optimal wavelengths for the designers of the light source. Moreover, the answer was based on the compounds themselves, and did not depend on how they would be mixed. For these wavelengths, and with the knowledge of the spectral technology and the time available for inspection, we knew the signal/noise ratio that the device could achieve, which told us immediately how detectable any contamination could be.
For more information on this project or any other services available from STAR Analytical Services, please contact us by email at info@STARAnalyticalServices.com or phone 781-861-STAR (7827).
