REPORT
FOR
ANALYSTS
Trends in Analytical Chemistry —1955 How much analytical research is done in comparison with research in other fields of chemistry? H o w does analytical research break d o w n with r e spect to organic and inorganic analysis? W h a t analytical techniques are most w i d e l y used? Which nations are doing the most research in analysis? H o w d o answers to these questions compare with those of the period immediately following W o r l d W a r II? Because of the breadth of analytical chemistry a n d the need to be somewhat a r b i t r a r y with respect to some classifications, quantitative answers a r e not possible. It is, however, possible t o develop significant trends by a proper analysis of d a t a . The answers to these a n d several other related questions a p p e a r in this month's Report for Analysts in a study made by Robert B. Fischer a n d five graduate students at the Department of Chemistry, Indiana University. It is a f o l l o w up to a related survey made by F. C. Strong in 1946. Both surveys are based on data in Chemical Abstracts.
rriHE increased t e m p o of scientific reJ- search since t h e end of World W a r I I has been evidenced in m a n y ways. One obvious index is t h e stepped u p expenditures for research a n d development in the United States a n d in m o s t foreign nations.
Robert B. Fischer, associate professor at Indiana University since 1 9 5 2 , has long been interested in teaching and research in analytical chemistry, in VOLUME
This ever-increasing tempo is reflected also in t h e n u m b e r of scientific articles published in technical journals. A key t o this growth is t h e steady climb in t h e n u m b e r of articles abstracted in Chemical Abstracts. Trends a n d developments in analysis,
a vital p a r t of all disciplines of chemistry, are a good barometer of changes in the fields of chemistry. Following World W a r I I , Strong made a survey of papers published in t h e field of q u a n t i t a t i v e analysis t o serve as a guide to analytical chemists a n d teachers of analytical chemistry
general and electron microscopy in particular. The 3o-year-old analyst received his B.S. from Wheaton College (III.) in 1 9 4 2 , and his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry at the University of Illinois in 1946. From 1 9 4 4 to 1 9 4 6 he worked on the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago. During the following two years, he served at Illinois as an instructor. In 1 9 4 8 , he joined the staff at Indiana University as an assistant professor. He is author of "Applied Electron Microscopy" (1943) and "Quantitative Chemical Analysis" (1 946). He is active in ACS. The coauthors are all graduate students in chemistry at Indiana University, either majoring or minoring in analytical chemistry. They are Robert F. Babcock, Robert F. Conley, Sally B. Cross, Frank A. Guthrie, and William W . Paudler.
2 8, N O . 1 2 , D E C E M B E R
1956
[ANAL.
CHEM.
19, 968 (1947)]. H e wished t o determine such factors a s : countries in which t h e work was done, language used, ratio between organic a n d inorganic analyses, t y p e of determination, a n d t h e type of preliminary separation.. T o determine w h a t changes have taken place in t h e ensuing 10 years, t h e present authors made, with full approval of Strong, a somewhat similar study for t h e year 1955. I t was necessary t o make arbitrary choices with respect t o such factors a s : Is a paper analytical or n o t ; is i t a research paper; and under what method should it be classified? Some analytical methods are of tremendous current practical value, even though relatively little research concerning t h e m appears in the literature. Such factors as these prevent an overly rigorous, precise mathematical evaluation of t h e changes. Although 9A
REPORT FOR ANALYSTS qualitative and not quantitative, the authors feel that the comparisons are meaningful and significant in indicating in broad, general terms the current trends in analytical chemistry. Analytical Chemistry, Fast-Growing Field
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The surveys covering the 1955 and 1946 periods were made on a somewhat different basis. The 1946 study was based on all papers with a publication date in the calendar year 1946. Chemi cal Abstracts served as the main source of information. The 1955 study was based on papers abstracted during the calendar year 1955. This study was limited to one of every four issues (six out of 22 pub lished during the year). In making these surveys, certain arbi trary choices had to be made. The very nature of analytical chemistry, for example, makes it difficult in many cases to decide whether a particular paper should be classified as analytical or not. Classification of some papers as to method or preliminary separation pre sented similar difficulties. Reports of analyses by known meth ods were not tabulated unless they in cluded research on some phase of the method and/or the apparatus employed. Determinations of physical constants such as viscosity, density, infrared peaks for specific groupings, and half-wave po tentials, were not tabulated unless these constants were directly applied to anal ysis in the paper or unless the data ap peared directly usable for analytical purposes. In the 1955 survey the work was divided among several authors who, al though they worked closely together, may have differed slightly in their evaluations. It was noted that Chemical Abstracts keeps remarkably up to date, as 48.0% of the analytical papers abstracted in 1955 were published that same year and 38.7% were published in 1954. The six issues studied for 1955 in cluded 1489 analytical papers, a larger figure than for the entire year's issues for 1946. Projecting this figure for the full year, using a factor of 22/6, indicates a total of about 5460 per year. This total compares with the 74,664 total number of abstracts of papers in the 1955 issues of Chemical Abstracts. In 1955, therefore, about one in 14 papers dealt with analytical chemistry. This compared with a ratio of one in 26 for 1946. Because of the factors men tioned above, this ratio should not be considered rigorously. However, it is apparent that interest and activity in analytical chemistry are not only keep-
Table
I.
Country in Which Was Done
Work
% of T o t a l " 1955 1946
Country United States Academic Industrial Research Institute Unknown (but
23.8
41.6
12.3 10.2 9.0 7.4 S.2 4.7 3.9 3.7
0.2 0.2 12.3 14.6 2.5 8.0 1.7 0.2 1.1
9.3 6.3 1.7
U.S.)
1.4
Japan Germany Russia Great Britain Italy France India Czechoslovakia Canada
2.2
Austria
1.7
Spain
1.7
2.2
Sweden
1.7
3.3
Belgium
1.3
1.0
Switzerland
1.2
2.4
Hungary
1.1
0.1
Netherlands
1.0
1.8
Argentina
0.9
0.9
Australia
0.6
1.4
Chile
0.6
0.2
Denmark
0.6
0.8
Finland
0.6
0.3
Poland
0.6
Yugoslavia
0.5
0.2
Egypt
0.4
0.1
Israel
0.4
Norway
0.4
Scotland
0.3
South Africa
0.3
0.2
Brazil
0.2
0.9
Peru
0.2
0.1
Rhodesia
0.1
0.5
N e w Zealand
0.1
0.3
Greece Hawaii
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.2
Romania
0.2
China
0.1
Ireland
0.1
0.1
Mexico
0.1
0.1
Palestine Puerto Rico British West Indies Holland Azurbaijan
0.1 0.1
Indonesia
0.1
Latvia Lebanon
0.1 0.1
Panama Portugal Sicily
0.1
0.1
0.1 0.1 0.1
0.1 0.1 0.1
Syria " Based on 1385 entries.
Circle No. 10 A on Readers' Service Card, page ( 3A ANALYTICAL
CHEMISTRY
REPORT FOR ANALYSTS
ing pace with the increasing tempo of scientific research, but are expanding more rapidly than some other areas of chemistry. Analysis Appears in Every Field
Analytical chemistry is involved, directly or indirectly, in virtually all areas of the broad field of chemistry. In Chemical Abstracts, it was noted, only 46.3% of analytical papers were found in the analytical section; 17.9% of the abstracts of analytical papers were found in the section on biological chemistry, 5.6% in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and perfumes, and the re maining 30.2% in all the other sections. In the samples used, the only two sec tions in which no analytical abstracts appeared were explosives and explosions and acids, alkalies, salts, and heavy chemicals. In many cases where ana lytical papers involve development of analytical procedures for application to particular types of materials, the ana lytical information is often of wider in terest.
Table II.
L a n g u a g e of Article
Language English German (including Dutch and Austrian) Russian French (including Belgian) Italian Czechoslovakian Spanish Polish Swedish Danish Finnish Greek Hungarian Norwegian Portuguese Yugoslavian Japanese Indian
MEET
% of T o t a l 1955° 1946 49.4
66.2
14.4 8.6 6.0 5.3 2.8 2.4 0.4 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 9.3* 0.6"
2.9 11.6 10.4 2.4 0.1 4.3
2-Nitropropane C H 3 C H N O 2 C H 3
1.4 0.2
0.1 0.1 0.2
" Based on 1426 entries. Many of these were actually in English. Some of these may have been in English.
b c
school language requirements of German and either French or Russian. It is noted, however, that English translations of some Russian journals are becoming available.
International Interest in Analysis
The international nature of scientific research activity was much in evidence in the survey (see Table I). The rapid growth in certain countries, particu larly Japan and Germany, was evident. Japan and Germany, for example, rose from very minor ratings in 1946 to second and third position, respectively, by 1955. Papers from countries like Japan indicate considerable analytical activity in many fields. In the United States, for which the authors made a somewhat detailed breakdown, it is noted that almost 40% of the analytical research is done in aca demic institutions. Industry follows with 26%, government with 2 1 % , and research institutes with 7%. English Is Widely Used Language
About half of all the analytical papers in 1955 were in English, a drop of 17% from 1946 (see Table II). German, which is now in second place, was in sixth place a decade ago. Russia, now in third place, was second in 1946. French, now in fourth place, was in third place two years ago. English, German, Russian, and French now rep resent almost 80% of all papers pub lished, compared to more than 90% in 1946. These figures, like others in the study, are based on certain assumptions. One is that the language used was generally that of the country in which the journal was published. The authors feel that these figures indicate the desirability of graduate V O L U M E 2 8, NO. 12, DECEMBER
Organics and Inorganics Are Equal
Analytical research work is about equally divided between organic and inorganic analysis (see Table III). Table III.
Organic vs. Inorganic Analysis
Nature of Substance Organic Inorganic Both
% of T o t a l 1955" 1946 47.5 47.7 4.8
58 42 ...
" Based on 1310 entries.
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It is noted, however, that inorganic papers tend to be concentrated in such areas as the first seven categories of Chemical Abstracts. These arc: Apparatus, plant equipment, and unit operations; general and physical chemis try; electronic phenomena and spectra; nuclear phenomena; electrochemistry; photography; inorganic chemistry; and analytical chemistry. The organic papers appear principally in the remaining 24 sections of Chemical Abstracts which cover the other fields of chemistry.
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REPORT FOR ANALYSTS analysis a n d in analytical research (see Table I V ) . T h e two conventional categories of "classical" q u a n t i t a t i v e analysis, titrimetric a n d gravimetric methods, continue to hold prominent places, a fact which provides one of several reasons for continuing to emphasize t h e m in t h e first course in quantitative analysis. I n fact, when potentiometric titration m e t h o d s are included with visual titrimetric methods, titrimetry occupies the t o p position. A rapid growth in t h e spectrophotometric m e t h o d is one of t h e most significant changes in methods in t h e past decade.
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" Based on 1163 entries; not included in the total were 76 strictly qualitative and 70 reviews on many methods.
Approximately one fourth of t h e a b stracts examined dealt specifically with m e t h o d s of separation prior t o t h e final measurement. These separation methods include adsorption, extraction, precipitation, distillation, a n d dialysis (see Table V ) . In 1955, adsorption (chromatographic ANALYTICAL
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REPORT FOR ANALYSTS
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Adsorption Chromatographic Ion exchange Extraction Precipitation Distillation Dialysis Other 6
% of Total 19466 1955* 57.0
28.6
17.9 16.9 5.2 3.0
18.4 18.0 10.3 0.9 23.9
45 3 11 7
" Based on 402 entries. ' Includes several topics which were not separation methods, so direct comparisons are not very exact.
Summary About one in 14 papers currently being abstracted in Chemical Abstracts falls within the subject m a t t e r of analytical chemistry; in 1946 the figure was one in 26. T h e United States is leading, as it was in 1946, with respect to t h e a m o u n t of work done in this field. T h e increase in some other countries since 1946, how ever, has been substantial, so t h a t t h e U. S. now accounts for 2 3 . 8 % compared to 4 1 . 6 % in 1946. I n 1955, t h e leaders, following the U . S., were J a p a n , Ger many, Russia, and Great Britain. I n 1946 the leaders were, after t h e U . S., G r e a t Britain, Russia, France, and Sweden. T h e most widely used languages were English, German, Russian, a n d French; in 1946 the order was English, Russian, French, a n d Spanish. T h e ratio of organic to inorganic is approximately equal now, compared to 5 8 % of organic versus 4 2 % inorganic in 1946. T h e analytical method most used both in 1955 a n d 1946 was t i t r i m e t r y (visual and instrumental), with colorimetry (visual and photoelectric), second. A close third place in 1955 was held by t h e various forms of spectrophotometry. In fourth and fifth places in 1955 were gravimetric methods a n d polarography. I n 1946, gravimetric methods held third place. Spectrophotometry and emission spectroscopy held fourth a n d fifth place a decade ago. Among t h e types of preliminary sepa ration, t h e leader in 1955 a n d 1946 was adsorption. T h e 1955 figure (57%) was, however, greater t h a n t h a t in 1946. Second and t h i r d places in b o t h years were t h e same—namely, extraction a n d precipitation.
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