analytical - American Chemical Society

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analytical chemistry August 1975, Vol. 47, No. 9

Analytical Spectroscopy

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As analytical capabilities improve, applications areas have a way of increasing their demands correspondingly. In the 1930’s, it was considered a challenge to the analyst to determine single constituents a t levels of parts per million. Optical emission spectroscopy was exceptional in providing multielement information, but with limited speed, accuracy, and sensitivity. The spectacular success of atomic absorption spectroscopy for avoiding these limitations for single element analyses has increased the demand for multicomponent information in many fields such as clinical science, industrial control, environmental science, and others. I t is appropriate, therefore, that the 1975 Summer Symposium on Analytical Chemistry, held a t the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on June 18-20 was on the general theme of “New Horizons in Analytical Spectroscopy”. The program was arranged by Professor James D. Winefordner of the University of Florida to include sessions on multielement spectroscopy, multiplex spectroscopy, and rapid scan spectroscopy. I t was pointed out early in the discussion that the direct-reading optical emission spectrometer [described in one of the first Instrumentation columns written by the late Ralph H. Muller for this journal ( I n d . Eng. Chem., Anal. Ed., 18, No. 2 , 25 (1946))l has long been a work horse in the control laboratory. In 1974, over a million samples were analyzed t o yield over 13 million individual determinations using 48 of these instruments in the laboratories of a single corporation. Yet this instrument uses only a tiny fraction of the information inherently contained in the emitted signal, so that there is, in principle, room for improvement in several directions. The combination of recent advances in several advanced technologies, including solid state physics, plasma physics, laser optics, microelectronics, computer technology, and information theory offers the promise of spectacular future developments. Yet a dilemma is presented by the fact that analytical spectroscopy represents only a tiny fraction of the demand for any of these specialties. Consider for example the vidicon detector, which was designed with television applications in mind. I t is reasonable to suppose that solid state detectors could be specifically designed for analytical applications to have superior properties such as increased sensitivity and resolution in the near UV. Perhaps a cooperative program involving industry, university, and potential user, such as the clinical laboratory, could bring the necessary effort to a focus. In any event, multicomponent spectroscopy, not only for trace elemental composition but for time-resolved molecular composition, appears destined to play an ever-increasing role, not only because of the more detailed information as such, but also because it will offer new approaches to revealing interactive or synergistic effects that may otherwise long remain hidden. The organizers of the Summer Symposium are to be congratulated in bringing together an excellent group of imaginative and stimulating papers.

ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 47, NO. 9, AUGUST 1975

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