One reactant yielding four thermally associated products. One is major with 98% selectivity while other are minor products.
It depends on what you're doing and which substances. Some reactions create very undesirable, even dangerous products, which even in small amounts must be considered. For example, I know of one industrial process that inadvertently created cyanide. I know of other processes that create carcinogens. For many years carcinogenic byproducts were carelessly dumped into the environment. Also, if you are having chemicals tested by a laboratory you should know that if you don't specifically request a particular battery of test be performed, they probably won't be. There is no such thing as, "tell me every chemical that is in this test tube no matter how small the amount".
You are entering a potential political and legal "minefield" with that question. If you are considering selling to the general public most countries have a string of regulations on what must be examined, especially for foodstuffs. If it is for a limited application to acknowledged specialists and competent people in a specific field, another set of standards would be appropriate. If it is for a reserach paper you might find that a simple listing of what you expect to find in the residual 2% will suffice as long as you make clear that you have not examined in detail that residual 2%. It would be interesting to know the materials and your desired application of them. I hope that this helps. Stephen
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