Main description:

The pace of change in analytical chemistry has continued unabated since the second edition was published in 1983, and in some areas - notably the computer control of laboratory instruments, data handling and automation - the changes have been dramatic. Most instrumental techniques have benefitted from these developments in terms of reliability, versatility and the processing and presentation of data. The increasing power of microcomputers in respect of speed, memory capacity and graphics capability has been one of the major factors in these improvements. The real-time processing of analytical data, multicolour display modes, windows-based software packages and the networking of computers and instruments throughout the laboratory have brought big improvements in industrial analytical practice and laboratory management. For the analytical chemist, however, it is worth remembering that the computer processing of data and presentation of results is only as good as the quality of the original data and the software employed. We have tried to indicate the nature of the recent changes and developments without compromising the principal subject matter of the book which remains the analytical techniques themselves and their applications. As with the second edition, the format is unchanged but significant alterations and additions have been made, including over forty new or amended figures and tables. A new chapter has been added on thermal techniques, the uses of which have been growing steadily throughout the 1980s.

Contents:

1 Introduction.- 2 The Assessment of Analytical Data.- 2.1 Definitions and basic concepts.- 2.2 The nature and origin of errors.- 2.3 The evaluation of results and methods.- 3 pH, Complexation and Solubility Equilibria.- 3.1 Chemical reactions in solution.- 3.2 Solvents in analytical chemistry.- 3.3 Acid-base equilibria.- 3.4 Complexation equilibria.- 3.5 Solubility equilibria.- 4 Separation Techniques.- 4.1 Solvent extraction.- 4.2 Chromatography.- 4.2.1 Gas chromatography.- 4.2.2 High performance liquid chromatography.- 4.2.3 Supercritical fluid chromatography.- 4.2.4 Thin layer chromatography.- 4.2.5 Ion exchange chromatography.- 4.2.6 Gel permeation chromatography.- 4.3 Zone electrophoresis.- 5 Titrimetry and Gravimetry.- 5.1 Titrimetry.- 5.2 Gravimetry.- 6 Electrochemical Techniques.- 6.1 Potentiometry.- 6.2 Polarography, stripping voltammetry and amperometric techniques.- 6.3 Electrogravimetry and coulometry.- 6.4 Conductometric titrations.- 7 An Introduction to Analytical Spectrometry.- 8 Atomic Spectrometry.- 8.1 Arc/spark optical emission spectrometry.- 8.2 Glow discharge atomic emission spectrometry.- 8.3 Plasma emission spectrometry.- 8.4 Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.- 8.5 Flame emission spectrometry.- 8.6 Atomic absorption spectrometry.- 8.7 X-ray emission spectrometry.- 9 Molecular Spectrometry.- 9.1 Visible and ultraviolet spectrometry.- 9.2 Infrared spectrometry.- 9.3 Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry (nmr).- 9.4 Mass spectrometry.- 9.5 Spectrometric identification of organic compounds.- 10 Radiochemical Methods in Analysis.- 10.1 Nuclear structure and nuclear reactions.- 10.2 Instrumentation and measurement of radionucleides.- 10.3 Analytical uses of radionucleides.- 11 Thermal Techniques.- 11.1 Thermogravimetry.- 11.2 Differential thermal analysis (DTA).- 11.3 Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).- 11.4 Thermomechanical analysis (TMA).- 11.5 Pyrolysis — gas chromatography.- 12 Overall Analytical Procedures and their Automation.- 12.1 Sampling and sample pretreatment.- 12.2 Examples of analytical problems and procedures.- 1: Evaluation of methods for the determination of fluoride in water samples.- 2: Analysis of a competitive product.- 3: The assessment of the heavy metal pollution in a river estuary.- 4: The analysis of hydrocarbon products in the catalytic refining industry.- 12.3 The automation of analytical procedures.- 13 The Role of Computers and Microprocessors in Analytical Chemistry.- 13.1 Introduction.- 13.2 Computers and microprocessors.- 13.3 Instrument-computer interfaces.- 13.4 The scope of microprocessor control and computers in analytical laboratories.- 1. A microprocessor-controlled potentiometric titrator.- 2. An infrared spectrometer interfaced to a dedicated microcomputer.- 3. A computing integrator for chromatographic analysis.- 4. A microprocessor-based X-ray or ?-ray spectrometer.