cnch/iicc! chemistry
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The Analytical Approach Advisory Panel: Edward C. Dunlop, Robert A. Hofstader, Wilbur D. Shults Published by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 1155 16th Street, N.W. Washington, D C . 20036 Books and Journals Division Director: D. H. Michael Bowen Journals: Charles R. Bertsch Production:
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ton address. The American Chemical Society and its editors assume no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors. Views expressed in the editorials are those of the editors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the American Chemical Society.
The Pimentel Report and Analytical Chemistry Periodically it is essential to evaluate the status of a discipline. The Committee to Survey Opportunities in the Chemical Sciences, under the guidance of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, has been evaluating progress in the chemical sciences. A prestigious committee of some of the discipline's best scientists, under the chairmanship of Professor George Pimentel of the University of California at Berkeley, has been actively engaged since 1982 in preparing this monumental report, and finally the Pimentel Report has been published. The previous report on the status of chemistry was the Westheimer Report, published in 1965. As the Pimentel Report states, this is a time of special opportunity for intellectual advances in chemistry. This opportunity derives from our developing ability to probe and understand the elemental steps of chemical change and, at the same time, to deal with extreme molecular complexity. Powerful instrumental techniques are the crucial dimension. They account for the recent acceleration in progress that gives chemistry unusual promise for a high return from additional resources. The report is organized around three main chapters: Control of Chemical Reactions, Dealing with Molecular Complexity, and Chemistry and National Weil-Being. The important role of chemistry in all aspects of human endeavor is clearly presented. Finally, manpower, education, and resources for basic research in the chemical sciences are objectively summarized. Of particular interest to our readers,is this authoritative report's strong acknowledgment of the essential role that analytical chemistry and instrumentation play. Characterization and measurement of atomic and molecular species—qualitative and quantitative analytical chemistry—can uniquely contribute to, as well as benefit from, the current rapid progress in science. Basic discoveries in physics, chemistry, and biology are providing the basis for new analytical methods and computerized instrumentation. In turn, these new capabilities are central to research progress in chemistry, other sciences, and medicine, as well as to applications in environmental monitoring, industrial control, health, geology, agriculture, defense, and law enforcement. Analytical specialties specifically illustrated include separations, optical spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, instrumentation, combined or hyphenated techniques, surface analysis, electroanalytical chemistry, and computers. The report notes that the current dramatic progress in analytical instrumentation and methodology has drawn heavily on fields such as lasers, electronics, computers, applied physics, and immunochemistry. Combining relevant discoveries in these fields with those in chemistry to find better analytical solutions to old and new scientific problems is an exciting intellectual challenge. The resulting analytical capabilities should be a key element in future progress in these scientific fields. The instrumentation and support needed for the future are becoming increasingly expensive. The overall impact of the Pimentel Report on policy makers is critically dependent on the active support of the entire chemistry community.
ANALYTICAL
CHEMISTRY,
VOL. 57, NO.
13. N O V E M B E R
1985
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