gradient is the most under-discussed thing on this board

gradient is the most under-discussed thing on this board. Not a hot take, just something I have not seen said plainly here.

Resolution between two peaks depends on retention, selectivity and efficiency. A shallower gradient buys retention and usually resolution, at the cost of peak width and run time.

The system suitability argument, since it comes up whenever somebody posts a number without one.

Before the sample result means anything, the instrument has to be shown to be fit that day: replicate injections with an acceptable RSD on area, a tailing factor inside limits, adequate plate count, and a resolution check between the pair you care about.

None of that is exotic and all of it is routine in a laboratory that reports for a living. Its absence does not mean a number is wrong; it means the number is unanchored, and unanchored numbers should not be quoted to two decimal places on this board.

Reading a trace posted here, in the order I actually look at things.

Axes first — if the wavelength and the time axis are not labelled, I stop. Then the baseline: where has it been drawn, and does the drawing absorb anything. Then peak shape: fronting, tailing, a shoulder that never resolves. Then the blank, if one was run, for carryover.

Only after all of that do I look at the percentage, and by then I usually know how much weight it deserves. The number is the last thing on the page and the first thing everybody argues about, which is exactly backwards.

Research-use-only material is not approved for human use and nothing here should be read as a recommendation to use it.