The obtained second-order data were chemometrically processed
with the purpose of determining either partial or total coeluting compounds and, in addition, obtaining the second-order advantage [24].
This latter property allows us to quantify analytes even in the presence
of compounds which were absent in the calibration step and, therefore,
long and tedious sample clean-up treatments are avoided, with a significant decrease in the use of organic solvents.
UV-fluorescence dual detection was selected because of its analytical
advantages: 1) UV signals allow us the determination of a wider number of compounds and, 2) fluorescence signals are, in general, more sensitive and selective than those based on absorption. Unfortunately, LCDAD and LC-FLD data could not be fused and treated as a single unified
matrix. This is due to the delay time between the two modes of detection, causing chromatographic bands registered by both detectors for
each analyte to have different shapes.