A universal separation quality factor (SQF) for evaluating liquid chromatographic separations

In liquid chromatography, various parameters such as plate number, peak capacity, peak symmetry, and elution window width have traditionally been used to assess separation quality. However, these measures evaluate individual aspects of chromatographic performance without providing a comprehensive, normalized quality score. This work introduces a separation quality factor (SQF) that integrates five separate sub-metrics (all normalized between 0 and 1 and are dimensionless) into a single normalized value. The SQF provides a robust, objective, and scalable evaluation method for chromatographic separations. By offering one combined measure, SQF enhances the comparison of different separations and allows for better optimization strategies in chromatographic method development.