Manufacturing<unk>  has many applications in both laboratory and clinical science. It is a common technique used in pharmaceutical development, as it is a dependable way to obtain and ensure product purity. While<unk>  can produce extremely<unk>  quality (pure) products, it is not always the primary method used in the production of bulk drug materials. According to the European pharmacopoeia,<unk>  is used in only 15.5% of syntheses. However, it plays a role in 44% of syntheses in the United States pharmacopoeia. This could possibly be due to differences in monetary and time constraints, as<unk>  on a large scale can be an expensive technique. An increase in specificity, precision, and accuracy that occurs with<unk>  unfortunately corresponds to an increase in cost. Legal This technique is also used for detection of illicit drugs in urine. The most common method of drug detection is an immunoassay. This method is much more convenient. However, convenience comes at the cost of specificity and coverage of a wide range of drugs. As<unk>  is a method of determining (and possibly increasing) purity, using<unk>  alone in evaluating concentrations of drugs is somewhat insufficient. With this,<unk>  in this context is often performed in conjunction with mass spectrometry. Using<unk><unk>  instead of gas<unk>  in conjunction with MS circumvents the necessity for derivitizing with acetylating or alkylation agents, which can be a burdensome extra step. This technique has been used to detect a variety of agents like doping agents, drug metabolites, glucuronide conjugates, amphetamines, opioids, cocaine, BZDs, ketamine, LSD, cannabis, and pesticides. Performing<unk>  in conjunction with Mass spectrometry reduces the absolute need for standardizing<unk>  experimental runs. Research Similar assays can be performed for research purposes, detecting concentrations of potential clinical candidates like anti-fungal and asthma drugs. This technique is obviously useful in observing multiple species in collected samples, as well, but requires the use of standard solutions when information about species identity is sought out. It is used as a method to confirm results of synthesis reactions, as purity is essential in this type of research. However, mass spectrometry is still the more reliable way to identify species. Medical Medical use of<unk>  can include drug analysis, but falls more closely under the category of nutrient analysis. While urine is the most common medium for analyzing drug concentrations, blood serum is the sample collected for most medical analyses with<unk> . Other methods of detection of molecules that are useful for clinical studies have been tested against<unk> , namely immunoassays. In one example of this, competitive protein binding assays (CPBA) and<unk>  were compared for sensitivity in detection of vitamin D. Useful for diagnosing vitamin D deficiencies in children, it was found that sensitivity and specificity of this CPBA reached only 40% and 60%, respectively, of the capacity of<unk> . While an expensive tool, the accuracy of<unk>  is nearly unparalleled.
High-performance liquid chromatography
Cloned enzyme donor immunoassay
Helium dilution technique
Hydrostatic weighing
Immunoassay
Bolton analysis
Nephelometry 
Radioimmunoassay