Editors' Column
Challenges and Opportunities for Analytical Chemists
Problem solving with emphasis on special areas such as the environment; OSHA, FDA, and EPA standards; forensic science; and clinical science is where analytical chemistry is making contributions these days. Throughout the 1960's, university and corporate research, generously funded especially by the Federal Government, brought forth an amazing array of highly sophisticated instruments. Present-day instrumentation development is not of the large proportions of the 1960's. Now, emphasis is placed on updating with integrated circuitry, incorporating data processing and control or digitizing output, and especially in designing special accessories that make particular instruments responsive to special problems. An example of this is the number of accessories and technique developments for the atomic absorption spectrophotometric detection of mercury. Also, special-purpose instruments, such as those specifically for SO2, ozone, or other pollutants, are arriving on the market in large numbers. It is predicted that the analytical instrument market will triple over the next decade. Some instrumentation is so expensive that its routine use cannot be justified, but it may be so advantageous in certain circumstances that placement of the instrument in strategic locations where smaller labs might have access is desirable. An example might be neutron activation analysis in forensic applications. This instrumentation is not practical for smaller police laboratories, but having these facilities at selected central locations would enable their use in many criminal investigations where NAA offers outstanding advantages. Another example is the uniquely useful combination of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry in the identification and analysis of drugs of abuse. This equipment is expensive and requires highly trained personnel in its setup and in data interpretation. The availability of G C / M S in larger facilities would allow smaller labs concerned with drug problems to confirm with exactitude results ob-
tained by less expensive, less reliable, and simpler methods. The complexity of available analytical instrumentation has led instrument companies to spend time and money on educational programs and in doing much applications research. Beckman and Varian, among others, offer short courses dealing with various analytical techniques. Many companies also offer valuable application literature for distribution to their current and/or potential customers. At technical meetings, the Analytical Division ACS meetings, the Pittsburgh Conference, and the Eastern Analytical Symposium, sessions which attract the greatest interest are those that deal with problem areas as opposed to general sessions or those which are solely discipline oriented. Analytical chemists are hearing from specialists in forensic science, pharmaceutical science, medical and clinical people, environmentalists, and others and are learning much about the analytical problems in these areas. In the Athens, Ga., meeting on analytical chemistry and environmental problems, held in May of this year with multiorganization support, applied and research chemists jointly considered the role of analytical chemistry in the environment. All the major disciplines within the broad field of analytical chemistry were represented on the program. At this summer's Analytical Chemistry Symposium (summarized beginning on page 892 A, this issue) analytical chemists turned their attention particularly to organic pollutants. The need for analytical method and instrument development and standardization in these problem areas illustrates that analytical chemists indeed have their work cut out for them. In the biomedical area, Merle Evensen of the University of Wisconsin has been responsible for a series of symposia that began at the 1972 Spring National ACS Meeting in Boston, continued through the 1972 Analytical Chemistry Summer Symposium and other ACS national meetings, and is culminating in the fall ACS meeting in Chicago this year
with sessions on analytical advances in clinical and medicinal chemistry. This particular symposium is cosponsored by the ACS Divisions of Analytical Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry. On a larger scale the American Chemical Society, in combination with the Instrument Society of America, IEEE, EPA, and others, is sponsoring a Joint Conference on Sensing of Environmental Pollutants, December 10-12, 1973, in Washington, D.C. As analytical chemists marshal their capabilities and talents to tackle important problems where their expertise is especially needed, very useful meetings are those which are jointly sponsored with other Divisions within the ACS or with other societies, as represented in the past by the Pittsburgh Conference and the Eastern Analytical Symposium. The former meeting is becoming international in scope and has joint sponsorship of groups from both the ACS and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS). The latter meeting this year is combined with the National SAS meeting. The full technical program will appear in next month's issue of ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY. This will be the last meeting of the Eastern Analytical Symposium in its present form. Beginning in 1974 (November 18-22, Atlantic City, N.J.), the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS) will start holding national meetings. There are seven sponsoring groups including the American Microchemical Society; Analysis Instrumentation Division of the Instrument Society of America; the Anachems; Division of Analytical Chemistry, ACS; Eastern Analytical Symposium, Mid-America Conference; and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. These meetings, planned to occur annually at various locations, should be especially fruitful in crossfertilization between disciplines in approaches to analytical problem solving.
Josephine
Petruzzi
A N A L Y T I C A L CHEMISTRY, VOL. 45, NO. 1 1 , SEPTEMBER 1973 · 911 A
