Chapter 7
Quality Control and Evaluation Criteria
for Enantiomer-Selective Separation
Methods in Environmental Sciences
For the quantification of trace amounts of pollutants, complex validation protocols
for method validation and quality control (QC) are required today in order to provide
reliable results suitable for further statistical treatment in national and international
surveys and pollutant monitoring programmes. National and international protocols
today are in place to ensure the expected data quality in environmental pollutant
monitoring and research. Due to these internationally accepted measures, the
unequivocal identification of the respective compounds is expected to be confirmed
and documented in scientific publications and official reports (Asmund and
Cleemann 2000; Viswanathan and Salmon 2000; Asmund et al. 2004; Xu et al.
2013). These QC criteria need also to be documented in comprehensive accreditation
protocols and are today a mandatory part of national and international pollutant
monitoring programmes. Major QC parameters like instrument response, linear
range, relative compound-specific recovery rates, non-linear responses, the limit of
detection (LOD), method detection limit (MDL), limit of quantification (upper and
lower LOQ) and contamination control (blank values), etc., are an integrated part of
the quantification procedure together with the instrument-specific identification
parameters (i.e. m/z, retention time windows, etc.). Usually, the methods are associated with compound-specific overall uncertainties which in turn can be used for
further statistical assessments and data comparison (Schofield et al. 2001). For more
in-depth information on method validation and quality control in environmental
analytical chemistry, we refer to the following books (Kateman and Pijpers 1981; de
Bievre and Günzler 2005; Majcen and Taylor 2010; Matsuda 2012), a selection of
comprehensive reviews (van Zoonen et al. 1998; Indrayanto 2018; Sajnog et al.
2018) and the updated web-page of EuraChem, the European network of organisations, aiming at establishing a system for the international traceability of chemical
measurements and the promotion of good quality practices. (retrieved 10.05.2020:
https://www.eurachem.org/index.php/publications/mnu-rdlst/130-rdl-validation¼).
Enantiomer-selective analysis adds additional challenges to the already quite complex validation protocols for quantitative trace analytical determinations. Usually, the
unequivocal confirmation of the target substance is carried out by conventional
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. Kallenborn et al., Chiral Environmental Pollutants,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62456-9_7
97
Quality Control and Evaluation Criteria
for Enantiomer-Selective Separation
Methods in Environmental Sciences
For the quantification of trace amounts of pollutants, complex validation protocols
for method validation and quality control (QC) are required today in order to provide
reliable results suitable for further statistical treatment in national and international
surveys and pollutant monitoring programmes. National and international protocols
today are in place to ensure the expected data quality in environmental pollutant
monitoring and research. Due to these internationally accepted measures, the
unequivocal identification of the respective compounds is expected to be confirmed
and documented in scientific publications and official reports (Asmund and
Cleemann 2000; Viswanathan and Salmon 2000; Asmund et al. 2004; Xu et al.
2013). These QC criteria need also to be documented in comprehensive accreditation
protocols and are today a mandatory part of national and international pollutant
monitoring programmes. Major QC parameters like instrument response, linear
range, relative compound-specific recovery rates, non-linear responses, the limit of
detection (LOD), method detection limit (MDL), limit of quantification (upper and
lower LOQ) and contamination control (blank values), etc., are an integrated part of
the quantification procedure together with the instrument-specific identification
parameters (i.e. m/z, retention time windows, etc.). Usually, the methods are associated with compound-specific overall uncertainties which in turn can be used for
further statistical assessments and data comparison (Schofield et al. 2001). For more
in-depth information on method validation and quality control in environmental
analytical chemistry, we refer to the following books (Kateman and Pijpers 1981; de
Bievre and Günzler 2005; Majcen and Taylor 2010; Matsuda 2012), a selection of
comprehensive reviews (van Zoonen et al. 1998; Indrayanto 2018; Sajnog et al.
2018) and the updated web-page of EuraChem, the European network of organisations, aiming at establishing a system for the international traceability of chemical
measurements and the promotion of good quality practices. (retrieved 10.05.2020:
https://www.eurachem.org/index.php/publications/mnu-rdlst/130-rdl-validation¼).
Enantiomer-selective analysis adds additional challenges to the already quite complex validation protocols for quantitative trace analytical determinations. Usually, the
unequivocal confirmation of the target substance is carried out by conventional
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. Kallenborn et al., Chiral Environmental Pollutants,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62456-9_7
97