Comparison of Three Algorithms for the Baseline Correction of Hyphenated Data Objects

Three novel two-way baseline correction algorithms, that is, orthogonal basis (OB), fuzzy optimal associative memory (FOAM), and polynomial fitting (PF), were evaluated with high performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPLC−MS) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) data objects. Among these algorithms, both OB and FOAM are two-way baseline correction algorithms, which reconstruct the entire two-way backgrounds from blank data objects, while the PF algorithm is a pseudo-two-way method, which models each ion chromatogram baseline with a third-order polynomial. The performance of baseline correction methods was first evaluated with respect to the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of 4 major peaks of the HPLC−MS total ion current (TIC) chromatograms of celery seed extracts. Then, the effect of baseline correction on pattern recognition was evaluated by using 42 two-way headspace (HS) solid phase microextraction (SPME) GC/MS data objects of 7 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) mixture standard ...