February 1976, Vol. 48, No. 2
analytical chemistry
Editor: Herbert A. Laitinen EDITORIAL HEADQUARTERS 1155 Sixteenth St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Phone: 202-872-4570 Teletype: 710-8220151 Managing Editor: Josephine M. Petruzzi Associate Editor: Andrew A. Husovsky Associate Editor, Easton: Elizabeth R. Rufe Assistant Editor: Nancy J. Oddenino Editorial Assistants: Barbara Cassatt, Deborah M. Cox Production Manager: Leroy L. Corcoran Associate Manager: Charlotte C. Sayre Artist: Diane Reich
Advlsory Bosrd: Donald H. Anderson, Edward G. Brame, Jr., Richard P. Buck, Warren B. Crummett, Merle A. Evenson. Velmer Fassel, A. F. Findeis, Robert A. Hofstader, Marjorie G.Horning, Richard s. Juvet, Jr., Lynn L. Lewis, Harry E. Mark, Jr., Walter C. McCrone, Eugene A. Sawicki. W. D. Shults lnstrumentatlon Advlsory Panel: Stanley R. Crouch, Nathan Gochman. Robert W. Hannah, Gary Horlick. James N. Little, Harold M. McNair, David Seligson, R. K. Skogerboe, Donald E. Smith Contributing Editor: Claude A. Lucchesi Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, 111. 60201 Publishedby the
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 1155 16th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Books and Journals Dlvlsion Director: D. H. Michael Bowen EditoriaG Charles R. Bertsch Graphics and Production: Bacil Guiley Research and Development: Seldon W. Terrant Circulation Development: Marion Gurfein
Analytical Measurement: A Means or an End? Many scientists, indeed practically all experimental scientists, use measurements. If these measurements are related to chemical characterization and quantification, it is valid to say that analytical chemistry is being practiced. If the methodology is well established, routine analysis is being carried out regardless of the complexity or simplicity of the instrumentation. If improvements in methodology are being sought, we are dealing with methods developed or analytical research, regardless of who is doing the work. Thus, many analytical methods are developed by people who are not analytical chemists, or indeed chemists a t all, but engineers, physicists, biologists, medical scientists, or others. If we admit all of this, what distinguishes the analytical chemist professionally from those who use or develop analytical methodology but are not analytical chemists? The characteristic feature of analytical work by non-analytical chemists is that it is carried out as a means to an end and not as an end in itself. If the methods are not suitable as they stand, they are developed further; and, if necessary, entirely new ones are devised to provide the necessary means. Once the specific problem is satisfactorily solved, there is no further incentive to generalize or perfect the measurement, but there is great pressure to use the methodology as it stands to produce results. Whether a new approach is set forth initially by an analytical chemist or by someone else, it usually appears initially in a restricted and relatively primitive form. Typically, it deals with only a single type of matrix, if it is concerned with mixtures a t all. The research of the analytical chemist is concerned, first of all, with extending and generalizing the applicability of new methods to a variety of problem areas. Second, the analytical chemist as a specialist in measurements is alert to new developments in sample treatment, transducers, auxiliary equipment, data processing methods, etc., which may not have been known or available to the original workers. In short, optimization and generalization of analytical measurements are a goal, not just a means to an end, for the analytical research chemist.
Manuscript requirements are published in the December 1975 issue, Page 2525. Manuscripts for publication (4 copies) should be submitted to ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY at the ACS Washington 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. Advertising Management: Centcom, Ltd. (for Branch Offices, see page 178 A) ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 48, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1976
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