Sidney Siggio
Olin Mathieson Chemical Corp. N e w Haven, Connecticut
The Current Prominence of Analytical Chemistry
Analytical chemists in the past have been viewed as a minority group doing very routine work of little significance. Actually, analysts today comprise the second largest portion of the registration of the American Chemical Society. Also, the number of analytical meetings and publications, and the wide circulation of analytical chemical journals indicate the current prominence of this aspect of chemical science. Chemical and Engineering News (December 11, 1961, p. 123) printed a table showing the distribution of specialties within the ACS membership in 1960. Organic chemistry Analytical chemistry Physical chemistry Biochemistry Inorganic chemistry Agricultural and food chemistry Other
Population 44.2Y0 16.2 13.4 9.8 7.3 5.9 3.2
One quickly notes that analysts are the second largest group in the Society, outnumbering physical and inorganic chemists, and that there is one analyst for about every three organic chemists. The upsurge in analysis began during or just after World War I1 with the expansion of the analytical "tool kit." The numerous instrumental devices which have been developed have greatly broadened the scope of analytical potential. I n addition, the classical analytical approaches (volumetric, gravimetric, and combustion analysis) have not been lying idle or decaying; these also have been greatly expanded and streamlined. One can follow the expansion of the analytical field by examining the history and content of the analytical chemical journals. Analytical Chemistry was first issued in 1929, a rather recent date. I n the 33 years of its existence, it has grown to be second in circulation among ACS publications. The circulation of Analytical Chemistry (October, 1962) was larger than the combined circulation of the three next largest. October, 1962, circulations are:
(soon to have a new name), Analycica Chemica Acta, Journal of Chromatography, I n f o n a e i o n de quimica analytica, and Zhurnal Analitiskoi Khimii. Of course, the older analytical journals also have expanded; these are The Analyst, Zeitschrift fur Analytische Chemie, Microchemie (Microchemica Acta) and ChemistAnalyst. It is interesting to note that in 1962 some 2100 papers were published in the field of gas chromatography alone, with over 10,000 papers estimated for the total field of analysis. The above publication statistics serve to indicate the magnitude of the growth of the analytical field. The scope of the growth is indicated by the diversity of the subjects covered by the papers. I n 1929, the papers in Analytical Chemistry were involved mainly with gravimetric and volumetric analysis, with some papers on emission spectroscopy, X-ray analysis, and determination of physical constants. There was no Review issue for 1929 since the field was so small. The 1962 Review issue of Analytical Chemistry covers 38 different areas of analytical specialty: Biochemical Analysis; Chromatography; Electroehromatography; Gas Chromatography; Ion Exchange Chromatography; Distillation Analysis; Electroanalysis and Coulometric Analysis; Extraction; Fluorometric Analysis; Gas Analysis; Instrumentation; Ion Exchange; Inorganic Microchemistry; Organic Microchemistrg; Chemical Microscopy; Electron Microscopy; Nucleonics; Palarographie Theory, Instrumentation, and Methodology; Organic Polarography; Emission Spectrometry; Absorption Flame Photometry; Emission Flame Photometry; Infrared Spectrometry; Light Absorption Spectrometry; Mass Spectrometry; Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry; Rsman Spectrometry; Ultraviolet Spectrometry; X-Ray Absorption and Emission; Statistical Methods in Chemistry; Differential Thermal Analysis; Titrations in Nonsqueaus Solvents; Amperometric Titrstions; Potentiometric Titrations; Volumetric and Gravimetrio Analytical Methods for Inorganic Compounds; Volumetric and Gravimetric Analytical Methods for Organic Compounds; X-Ray Iliffraction; Magnetic Susceptibility.
The growth of the field of analytical chemistry can also be seen from the growth of the number of meetings specifically concerned with analysis. Pittshureh Analvtical Conference "
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Analytical Chemistry J o u r m l Arnerzcan Chemical Society Journal Organic C h e m i s t ~ y J o v m l Physrcal Chemistry
29,613 28,999 15,981 7,253 5,485
The 1929 volume of Analyrical Chemistlyl contained approximately 100 papers in 240 pages. The 1961 volume contained 550 papers and 2000 pages. I n addition to the growth of this one journal, one can see the establishing of several new publications in the field of analysis: Talanta, Microchemical Journal 604 / lournd of Chemicol Education
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Gordon Research Conference on Analytical Chemistry Gordon Research Conference on Instrumentation Gordon Research Conference on Infrared Spectroscopy Louisiana State Analytical Symposium Annchem Meeting Analytical Division Symposia st ACS meetings Regional Analytical Meetings Anrnml Pharmaceutical Analvsis Meetine International Symposium an Spectroscopy International Symposium on Electron Microscopy Symposium on Microsropy Andytioal Chemical Division of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
It is well also to point out that the registered attendance a t the Pittsburgh Analytical Symposium has been about 4000 or about one-third that for national ACS Meetings. The prodigious growth described above can be attributed mainly to the demand by chemical technology for qualitative and quantitative information about the species present in systems. Hence, practically any device or approach capable of measuring a parameter of a chemical system has been quickly adapted for analytical application. The list of specialties quoted from the 1962 Review issue of Analytical Chemistry illustrates this point. The growth has been so fast that the demand for analysts and analytical chemists exceeds the supply. As a result, industry has taken many chemists not specifically trained in analysis and allowed them, by direct training or selftraining, to become analytical chemists. I n my own analytical department there are twelve PhD chemists, of which only six have their degrees in analytical chemistry, three have their degrees in organic chemistry, two in physical chemistry, and one in fuel technology. Of the seven MS men on the staff, three were graduated as analysts, two as physical chemists, one as an inorganic chemist, and one as an organic chemist. This pattern is qualitatively repeated in almost every industrial analytical laboratory. The industrial analytical chemist of any level enjoys the same "status" as his counterparts in synthesis or engineering; he is no longer looked down upon. I n fact, it can he generally stated that graduates from schook with recognized analytical curricula are offered salaries 510% higher than comparable students in organic synthesis or engineering. I t is the principle of supply and demand coming into play. This can be illustrated from the author's experience in personnel recruitment of various types of chemists a t the colleges and nniversities. My average is 15 "synthesis"
organic chemists processed per job opening in synthesis research, while only one analytical chemist was processed per job opening (inorganic and engineering recruitment were outside my assignment). This shows the response per job and the scarcity of personnel trained and/or educated in the field of analytical chemistry. In Chemical and engineer in^ News there are many advertisements which specify analyst or analytical chemist, and often even the specialty. The colleges and universities have responded to this surge of analytical activity by augmenting as well as rearranging their curricula. The biggest change has been to move analytical chemistry to a later position in the undergraduate curriculum. The reasoning is that mastery of analytical chemistry as it exists today, requires a knowledge of physical and organic chemistry as well as more advanced mathematics. It should he added that the content of these analytical chemistry courses has been changed as well as the position in the education time table. No longer is analytical chemistry a "qual-quant" course, it has proceded well beyond volumetric-gravimetric analysis. The courses now include the broad spectrum of tools and knowledge availahle to solve analytical problems. Also the number and variety of analytical courses availahle to the students have increased. Undergraduate courses in instrumental analysis and organic analysis are almost standard offerings. On the graduate level, the training diversifies broadly with some of the analytical specialty areas being covered in separate courses. It is hoped that the above statistics will serve to put analytical chemistry in the perspective in which it exists today relative to the other chemical technologies. It is also hoped that the emphasis on analytical chemistry in the schools will continue with more schools revamping and augmenting their curricula to provide a better balance of recruits for the chemical field.
Volume 40, Number 1 1 , November 1963
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