[0010] xujianIt thus can be seen that under suitable conditions

[0010] xujianIt thus can be seen that under suitable conditions,
absorbance is directly proportional to analyte concentration through Beer's law. The concentration of the analyte can be determined from the absorbance value, which in turn is calculated from the ratio of measured radiation transmitted and measured radiation incident. In addition, a true absorbance value can be obtained by measuring a reference or blank sample and taking the ratio of the radiant power transmitted through the analyte sample to that transmitted through the blank sample.

[0011] Ordinarily, the sample is transferred to a sample cell that is
contained within the analytical instrument (e.g., spectrophotometer) itself. An example of a conventional dissolution testing system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,060,024. Samples are taken from test vessels and, using sampling pumps, carried over sampling lines and through sampling filters. The samples are then transported either to a UV analyzer containing six cells, to an HPLC system, or to a fraction collector.

[0012] U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,477, commonly assigned to the owner of the
present application, discloses a spectrophotometer that contains a sample cell and a reference cell. A pulsed light source such as xenon flash tube emits very short, intense bursts of light that, after possibly being redirected by one or more reflective surfaces, passes through the entrance slit of a monochromator. After encountering one or more other reflective surfaces, gratings, and apertures or slits, the incident light beam is divided by a fixed beam splitter into two beams having a predetermined intensity ratio. One of these beams passes through the reference cell, and the beam transmitted from the reference cell is received by a reference detector. The other beam passes through the sample cell, and the beam transmitted from the sample cell is received by a sample detector. Provision is also made for measuring the dark signal, which is a measurement of the signal when no light from the light source reaches a detector. The sample, reference, and dark measurements are used to accurately calculate the absorbance of the sample. In another embodiment, the pulsing of the light source is synchronized by control means with the rotation of a carousel. The carousel holds several sample cuvettes, such that its rotation brings each cuvette into position at the sample cell in a step-wise manner. Received on Thu Sep 29 2005 - 01:22:34 CDT