edited by
SUSANH. HIXSON
Highlights
National Science Foundation Washington, DC 20550
CURTIST. SEARS,JR. Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303
Projects supported bv the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education Transforming Traditional Quantitative Analysis into a Course on Modern Analytical Science S. P. Perone, Peter Englert, Joseph Pesek, and Craig Stone San Jose State University San Jose, CA 95192 Traditional sophomore quantitative analysis courses usuallv exclude such technical areas as organic and biochemical analysis, mixture analysis, and physical/structural characterization, as well as the currently . important . topics of regulatory requirements, quality assurance, and information management. Unfortunately, this leaves students with an inaccurate ~ersoectiveon modem analvtical science. The dilemma is Low provide students &h the ouantitative laboratom skills and conceots that are essenGal to success in subskquent laboratoj work and, a t the same time, provide a more comprehensiveand realistic exposure to modem analytical science. The solution, we believe. is to orovide a laboratom exoerience that exooses stud& to -the broad range of modern analytical laborstom oroblems. issues. and technolorn This does not imolv that'the course becdmes a lower ikvel of lnstrume&l Analysis; rather it should include a limited number of basic instrumental techniques and focus students' attention on a variety of problems and issues representative of modem analytical practice. The instrumental techniques we have selected include potentiometrv, voltammetry, vislble spectrophotometry, atomic absorption spectroscopy rAAS,, neutnm act~vatlonanalysis, and high performance Laboraton". orohlem~Inliould chromatoeraohv " (HPLC, . vGve chemical analysis of organic, biochemical, and inoreanic mixtures. includine ohvsical and structural charactkrization of solid sampre's. ktudies are conducted in an environment of eood laboratow oractice. includine oualitv " assurance, certification, information management, and statistical evaluation of data. The highest priority change in laboratory content is to incorporate HPLC experiments. The focus is on problems of environmental and medical/pharmaceutical interest (e.g., mixtures of polyaromatic hydrocarbons; steroid mixtures). In addition, we are introducing experiments in analytical voltammetry using mercury-plated, solid microelectrodes applied to analysis of heavy metals i n environmental or waste water samoles. To ~rovidestudents with a realistic laboratory expehence i&olving both physical and chemical characterization, and sampling of heterogeneous solids, we have developed an experiment where chemical com~ositionis correlated with article size distribution. Students gain experience with multielement analytical problems by using wastcwatcr samples containing multiple elements varying from high to tracc level umtent. They
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Journal of Chemical Education
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submit these s a m ~ l e sto a service analvtical facilitv ororiding multielement analysis, as is common practice in a commercial laboratory However, first the students have the responsibility to prepare the sample, provide 'Mind" standards. and inde~endentlvdetermine one or more of the elements, selecting conditions to minimize reported interferences. Quality assurance is introduced by making students responsible for establishing control charts documentmg performance ofthe various instruments. Certification practice reauires students to demonstrate oroficiencv in related ladoratory procedures prior to estabkshing coktrol charts. Information management reauires that soread sheet technology be used to monitor control chart dita. The student laboratory provides experience with fundamental wet chemical quantitative procedures (gravimetry and titrimetry), while associating them with the preparation of standards and calibration of instrumental measurements. -----To complement the expanded scope of the laboratory, the lecture material is being re-organized to be consistent with the new conceptual s t & c t ~ r i
