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Focus The Westheimer report did address the question of sensitivity. "It said we could measure concentrations at ppm or even sometimes at ppb levels," said Bard. "Now we look at ppt levels or even less. One ppt is the equivalent of finding something a tenth the size of a pinhead on a road from one end of the U.S. to the other. It's an amazing kind of number to think about when you put it in those terms. "But I don't want to leave the im pression that all the problems are solved," said Bard. "I can see a num ber of definite areas where analytical chemistry will have to make advances in the years ahead." Although surface techniques are now very powerful, he explained, they cannot yet handle organic molecules and organic functional groups. "We
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One ppt is the equivalent of finding something a tenth the size of a pinhead on a road from one end of the U.S. to the other.
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can see elements," said Bard, "but we cannot identify the organics. A vast field will emerge if we can figure out ways to look at organic molecules on surfaces. There would also be a huge payoff if we could get some absolute quantitative measurements on sur faces." In addition, Bard explained, surface spectrometers can be used to look at surfaces in high vacuum, but samples under atmospheric pressure or im mersed in liquids are currently inac cessible to surface techniques other than SERS. "There's a good chance we can discover techniques for such samples, given the time and the op portunity," Bard predicted. Other goals to shoot for in surface analysis include higher spatial resolution and improved depth profiling. Analytical chemistry has made huge contributions to biological and medi cal science, "but there are many more to come," said Bard. Real-time meth ods will be developed for instanta neous determinations of substances in the body. Noninvasive analysis, exem plified by whole-body NMR, will be come increasingly important for medi cal studies. Increasing attention will be paid to the analysis of hostile environments and novel media. "As we continue to explore the solar system," Bard pre-
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Allen J. Bard dieted, "we will need more powerful analytical techniques for looking at planets. But we will also need tech niques for the deep sea on Earth. Analysis at the bottom of the ocean is probably as difficult as on the surface of Mars." Bard also sees more and more interest in the analysis of hightemperature, near-, and supercritical fluids. One possible application is monitoring the interior of reactor ves sels of operating nuclear reactors. "Certainly computers and robotics will continue to be important," said Bard. "And we'll design more and more multispecies/multielement probes. One can envision a tiny silicon chip that could probe 20 or 30 ele ments at one time. A probe such as this will be in every car, analyzing ex haust gas and feeding information back to the carburetor. And we may all be monitored with probes so physi cians can continually track our body chemistry."
Analysis at the bottom of the ocean is probably as difficult as on the surface of Mars.
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"The Westheimer report," said Bard, "really neglected analytical chemistry pretty badly." The hope is that this sin of omission will not be re peated in the Pimentel report. "I've had a lot of help," said Bard, "in pre paring the analytical chemistry sec tion of the report." He particularly thanked contributors R. G. Cooks, David Hercules, Fred Lytle, George Morrison, Janet and Robert Osteryoung, and Charles Wilkins. "It's an exciting time in analytical chemistry," Bard concluded. "The power at our fingertips is huge, but we've only skimmed the surface. As time goes on, given the resources and the facilities, we'll do even more."
