Chemistry-To
Wide Selection of Selective Electrodes
All It Concerns
To the Editor:
To the Editor:
According to my personal research there are many high schools in this country where chemistry is not a required course, nor are physics, botany, or biology. My major concern is chemistry. During my experience as a TA a t the University of Oklahoma, I have taught some students who had never been exposed t o chemistry before. I t is not an easy task to teach a student who has never bad chemistry all of the main principles in iust one vear. he fieldof chemistry, like others, has devrloped o much thar studentsshould br exposed w it at theearliest stagesof their education. I t shouldnot be optional, it is a matter of responsibility toward our younger generation. Making chemistry optional and then surprising the student with it in their first year of college discourages students from studying chemistry. Chemistry should be introduced a t about the fifth or sixth grade with very elementary facts and definitions. As the studints move on hieher erades. further articulated and .--more elaborated facts, dkinicons, &d theories should be introduced. Such stratew could he a solid bridee between high school and college to ti;k broader world of cGemistry. w h a t is true for chemistrv should be true for other main scientific disciplines. To teach chemistry well in one high school and not so well in another is a different matter but to have chemistry offered in one high school and not a t all in another is an act of discrimination in education, it creates an awkward situation. Moreover, it is not fair for two students who came from these two different high schools to have to compete next to each other in the same college chemistry class. This is a situation that obviously causes significant problems, hut its remedy does not seem difficult a t all. To make chemistry an optional course in high school only tempts the student to fall into a disadvantageous situation. If you do not introduce the foundations of chemistry as a requirement in hieh " school. how can vou exoect the student to comnrehend chemical principles in the first freshman chemistry course? It is also verv difficult to combine both the foundations and of chemistry in one book to offer for the first the time to college freshmen!!
Ion and bioselective mrmbrane electrodes (J.CHKM. Enlr. 60.282 (1983)) are new analytical tools that offer direct electrochemical determinations and have many applications in medicine, engineering, industrial prucessingcontrol, and research. Such electrodes are so rapidly heing de\,eloped that current review anicles are voluminuus although few te?.thooks make little mention of their use. The famil\ trer of *elective potentiometric membrane electrodes, in addition to ion, enzvmatic. bacterial. and tissue svstems. now includes the use o?immum- and other binding protein riactions. Some of these new additions are: affinity, enzyme-linked immunoadsorhent, immune-complex, and antibody selective elecrrodes. The aftinitv electrode smttm for determining human serum rapidly,-and reversibly albumin ( I ) kteracts bioipecifica~l~, with the protein assayed. A solid-phase competitive enzyme immunoassay electrode for biotin and avidin ( 2 )or oestradiol (3)as well as a "sandwich" enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent electrode for hepatitis B determinations (4) offer methods for measuring micro amounts of antibodies, antigens, or haptens on a large scale basis. A similar system for studying immune-complex formation follows antigen-antibody reactions Also. an electrode with in the oresence of comnlement (5.6). . . selective response for ;he antibodies against antigenic dererminates of dinitronhrnul has been devised (71. All of these se~eitiveelectrodes are fast, accurate, reliable, and can be used for monitoring verv small consecutive samples. Methods for a u t ~ m a t i n g t h e i ~ uare s e being developed toeether with new amlications. These novel bioselective el&rodes are certain become priceless analytical tools for all scientist in many fields.
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Literature Clted
is) shihe; K.;ets1.i them. ~ e t t . 2 ~, S (1980). S
(7) Solsky, R. L., and Rechnitz, G.A . Anol. Chimica Arro, 123,135(1981)
Faik A. K. Nasser University of Oklahoma Norman, OK 73019
Dan Monroe Infectious Disease Section Center for me Health Sciences University of Tennessee Memphis. TN
I Safety in the Chemical Laboratory Reprint Volume The Division of Chemical Education has puhlished the fourth volume of "Safety in the Chemical Laboratory" edited by Malcolm M. Renfrew,the current editor of the "Safety in the Chemical Laboratory" feature in the JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EIIUCATION. Volume 4 contains all articles from the "Safety in the Chemical Laboratory" column from .January 1974 to .January 1980, and, in addition, all other relevant material on safety published in the JOURNAL OF CHF.MICAL EDUCATION during the same period including special articles, notes, letters, and hook reviews. The papers have been grouped by suhlect area and an extensive index prepared. Updated material is provided hy original authors. This paperback is available postpaid for $11.60 US,$12.50 Rxeign. In addition, the Division has published the first three volumes of "Safety in the Chemical Laboratory" edited by N. V. Steere, which cnntain contributions which have appeared in previous issues of the ~OIIRNAI.. "Safety in the Chemical Lahnratory", Volume 1, .January 1964 through January 1967; Volume 2, February 19fi7 through January 1970; Volume 3, February 1970 through .January 1974. Each volume sells for $10.:15 US, $11.25 Foreign. Address prepaid orders to Subscription and Book Order Department, J w r n o l of Chemical Education, 20th and Northampton Streets, Easton, PA 18042.
Journal of Chemical Education
