Chromatography Forum

Hi. Does anyone use this software? How dDo you integrate all of your peaks? Is there a plain explanation how to do it? Finningan manuals are not helpful and this problem frustrates me a lot.

Thank you

Yes, we use it. You use the processing method set-up (top right on the first page of Xcalibur). It's too much to explain the whole process in detail in a message board, but roughly you should be following these steps:

(1) Open the processing method set-up, and import a typical data file from a standard run.
(2) There are a series of tabs covering different aspects of peak detection and integration. For your first target compound, fill in all the blanks on each tab. The raw data file that is open will be used to show the effects of what you're entering.
(3) For the next target compound, go to the name of the compound, and instead of typing in a new name (which merely renames compound No. 1), select the new compound default name.
(4) type in a new name for this, and fill in all the tabs again.

When you've done all this, save your processing method.

Now open the sequence you used to run the samples, and fill in the processing method in the sequence table. Specify which samples are unknowns, which are standards etc.

Resave your sequence, and run it by clicking on the Sigma button instead of the normal sequence running button. This is the sequence reprocessing button. A window will pop up asking whether you want to integrate, calibrate, produce a spreadsheet summary etc.; select your options, and let it do its stuff.

At the end, you can use the Quanbrowser to see if the results look good, or the Excel spreadsheet summary to get an overview of all samples.

I hope this helps a bit. If you've got specific questions about individual steps, do ask.

We use it too.

For a GCMS-run with about 25 peaks.
It took some time to build the method and therefore there's only one analysis we use Xcalibur for.

For more complex analyses we use different software including LabCarrier which uses Xcalibur raw data.