Analyte

An analyte, component (in clinical chemistry), or chemical species is a substance or chemical constituent that is of interest in an analytical procedure.

Usage

Grammatically speaking, experiments always seek to measure properties of analytes—analytes themselves cannot be measured. For instance, one cannot measure a table (analyte-component), but the height, width, and so on of a table can be measured. Likewise, one cannot measure glucose but can measure the glucose concentration. In this example "glucose" is the component and "concentration" is the measurable property. In laboratory and layman jargon the property is often left out provided the omission does not lead to an ambiguity of which property is measured.

See also

• Analytical chemistry
• Immunoassay
• Magnetic immunoassay