editorial
Roses and Raspberries
I
n our disciplineOif you watch continuously and carefully, as an attentive Editor is wont to doOsome positive research trends can be discerned, as well as some not so positive or even negative ones. I’d like to comment on a few, using the labels, respectively, “Roses” and “Raspberries”. ROSES: There are a number of fabulous directions emerging in analytical chemistry. A notable one is the behavior (or detection) of “Single XXX”, where XXX is a molecule, cell, or particle. W. E. Moerner in a way kicked off this topic with his classic spectroscopic work on detection of single molecules, first by absorbance and then more successfully by fluorescence measurements. He summarized the early days of these experiments in an A-Page article some years ago (Anal. Chem. 1989, 61, 1217A⫺1223A) and has most recently published a Perspective (Anal. Chem. 2010, 82, 2192⫺2203) on imaging of single biomolecules in living (also single) cells. That is life in action! The detection of various aspects of single molecules has been aided by a great variety of optical experiments contributed by others. In the case of enzymes, variations in the activity of single enzyme molecules have even been observed. The Single XXX theme is now seeing strong advances by many other researchersOwhom I will not try to nameOin work on single biological cells. The chemical analysis of single cells (their internal contents and how they change with cell age; their receptors and signaling emissions by which they become motive or adherent or divide) has to be accompanied by work on keeping them viable and perhaps confined to a particular arena of surface. These topics are surely interrelated, and it is inspiring to see how a range of different experimental approaches is supplying important insights into the connections and basics of cell behavior. The tools range from chromatography to voltammetry to fluorescence emission spectroscopy to confocal microscopy, to name just a few.
10.1021/AC100892F 2010 AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Published on Web 04/12/2010
Single nanoparticles are also a trenchant area of work. Single nanoparticles can be detected by MS and, in cases allowing amplification such as electrocatalysis, voltammetry. Analytical Chemistry is highly pleased to see submissions in the Single XXX area. RASPBERRIES: There is a trend in electroanalysis to explore composite modified electrodesOthat is, electrodes coated with a mixture of materialsOgenerally aiming at a more sensitive electroanalysis. These electrode coatings are usually quite rough, and questions abound as to whether the “Hurrahs!” given to increased currents and increased analytical sensitivity are simply reflections of an increased microscopic surface area and not electrocatalytic activity as is often claimed. The coatings very often also contain some trendy materials, such as graphene (the current rage), carbon nanotubes, or chitosan, that give the modified electrode “special” (and most often unproven) properties. I consider many of these works examples of analytical chemistry empiricismOthose that improve results but without scientific understanding. Analytical Chemistry has to strike a balance between allowing some empiricism in really new discoveries and demanding understanding in later work. Eventually, as in any topic, the scales begin to tilt, and of empiricism, “enough is enough”. The scales are tilting, and the Editor hopes that authors notice. There are always Roses and Raspberries in a vibrant field like analytical chemistry that attracts many participants. These are just a few of many.
MAY 1, 2010 / ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
3405
