A chemistry home page on the World Wide Web

In this article a brief overview of the World Wide Web (WWW) is given, with some examples of the kind of information and services pertaining to analytical chemistry that can be found there. An existing WWW site that has been set up for analytical chemists is used as a case in point. The article concludes with a brief look at some of the issues raised by publishing on the Internet. Received:15 January 1996 / Accepted: 28 January 1996     

Postgraduate education in Analytical Chemistry: an Australian perspective

 Post-graduate education in analytical chemistry in Australian universities does not have a high profile at the national level, yet there is a significant demand from employers for graduates with qualifications in analytical chemistry. To meet this demand, some specialist courses such as Graduate Diplomas and course work Master’s degrees have been established. These courses however have a research component which is less than 50% of the total program. On the other hand, the traditional Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees are research only degrees and follow on from a fourth year (Honours year) of university study which may or may not have a course work component in analytical chemistry. The absence of course work past Year 4 produces graduates with a high degree of specialisation but with a limited view of the relationship between analytical chemistry and the social and R&D needs which drive research in analytical chemistry. It is argued that there should be a course work component in Years 5, 6 and 7 and that this course work component should address both discipline and general skills issues. Received: 15 January 1996/Accepted: 28 January 1996     

Postgraduate education in Analytical Chemistry: an Australian perspective

 Post-graduate education in analytical chemistry in Australian universities does not have a high profile at the national level, yet there is a significant demand from employers for graduates with qualifications in analytical chemistry. To meet this demand, some specialist courses such as Graduate Diplomas and course work Master’s degrees have been established. These courses however have a research component which is less than 50% of the total program. On the other hand, the traditional Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees are research only degrees and follow on from a fourth year (Honours year) of university study which may or may not have a course work component in analytical chemistry. The absence of course work past Year 4 produces graduates with a high degree of specialisation but with a limited view of the relationship between analytical chemistry and the social and R&D needs which drive research in analytical chemistry. It is argued that there should be a course work component in Years 5, 6 and 7 and that this course work component should address both discipline and general skills issues. Received: 15 January 1996/Accepted: 28 January 1996     

Analytical chemistry in the discovery of the elements

After a brief introduction to the evolution of the philosophy of matter over the centuries to arrive at the actual concept of chemical elements and “chemical matter” a historical overview is presented on the discovery of new elements within the 17–20th centuries, associated with the development and progress of chemical analysis and analytical chemistry. Some specific details are included in connection with imaginative theories, controversies on precedence of discovery, and spurious discoveries and their discoverers. 16 new elements were discovered in the 18th c., 51 in the 19th c. and 26 in the present c. The influence of some chemical schools, the incidence of conjunctural circumstances, the difficulties implied by some discoveries, serendipitous and fictitious discoveries, etc. are considered focusing on specially remarkable cases of historic interest. Historical and actual controversies related to naming of new elements are briefly considered. Received: 20 February 1996 / Accepted: 21 May 1996     

A schematic overview of the historical evolution of Analytical Chemistry

After a brief introduction to the evolution of the philosophy of matter over the centuries to arrive at the actual concept of chemical elements and “chemical matter” a historical overview is presented on the discovery of new elements within the 17–20th centuries, associated with the development and progress of chemical analysis and analytical chemistry. Some specific details are included in connection with imaginative theories, controversies on precedence of discovery, and spurious discoveries and their discoverers. 16 new elements were discovered in the 18th c., 51 in the 19th c. and 26 in the present c. The influence of some chemical schools, the incidence of conjunctural circumstances, the difficulties implied by some discoveries, serendipitous and fictitious discoveries, etc. are considered focusing on specially remarkable cases of historic interest. Historical and actual controversies related to naming of new elements are briefly considered. Received: 20 February 1996 / Accepted: 21 May 1996     

Analytical chemical laboratory exercises on basic and advanced level at the Technical University Budapest

An overview on the practical laboratory work done by the chemical engineering students is given at different levels of the curriculum of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering. Laboratory exercises and individual laboratory work is carried out at the following levels: Basic level. The different analytical chemical methods are acquisited by the students. Advanced level. A problem oriented project work is done with integrated use of the different analytical methods in the 8th semester. Thesis work. Specialized individual work on an elected research topic. Postgraduate courses. Organized for the understanding and practice of the latest methods and applications in the analytical chemistry. The programs of the different levels are detailed in the following. Received: 10 January 1996 / Accepted: 20 May 1996     

Flow injection analysis of ascorbic acid at a methylene green chemically modified electrode

 In flow injection analysis (FIA) of ascorbic acid, methylene green (MG) modified carbon paste electrodes showed high catalytic activity and stability, reducing the oxidation overpotential by 400 mV. The linear response range was over 3 orders of magnitude and the detection limit was 1×10^-8 mol/L eq. 0.25 pmol with S/N=3. The influence of various experimental conditions was explored for optimum analytical performance. Received: 2 January 1996/Accepted: 23 January 1996     

Flow injection analysis of ascorbic acid at a methylene green chemically modified electrode

 In flow injection analysis (FIA) of ascorbic acid, methylene green (MG) modified carbon paste electrodes showed high catalytic activity and stability, reducing the oxidation overpotential by 400 mV. The linear response range was over 3 orders of magnitude and the detection limit was 1×10^-8 mol/L eq. 0.25 pmol with S/N=3. The influence of various experimental conditions was explored for optimum analytical performance. Received: 2 January 1996/Accepted: 23 January 1996     

Derivatization of aromatic amines for analysis in ammunition wastewater II: Derivatization of methyl anilines by iodination with a Sandmeyer-like reaction

An analytical method for the determination of aromatic amines in water is introduced that uses iodination with a Sandmeyer-like reaction to replace the amino group by iodine in aqueous solution. The non-polar derivatives are extracted with pentane or toluene, separated with gas chromatography and sensitively detected with an ECD. Thirteen major metabolites of nitroaromatic explosives were investigated. The method was used to analyze these metabolites in water samples from the site of a former ammunition plant. The results are compared with the derivatization of aromatic amines via bromination of the aromatic ring. Received: 23 December 1996 / Revised: 31 January 1997 / Accepted: 8 February 1997     

A Silyl Cation with a Three-Center Si-H-Si Bond

No AbstractSupporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.angewandte.com or from the author.     

Formation and Reactivity of the Osmium(IV)-Cyanoimido Complex [OsIV(bpy)(Cl)3(NCN)]-

No AbstractSupporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.angewandte.com or from the author.     

Spontaneous Phase Transfer of Nanoparticulate Metals from Organic to Aqueous Media

No AbstractSupporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.angewandte.com or from the author.     

Conjugated Complexes Composed of Quinonediimine and Palladium: Controlled Formation of a Conjugated Trimetallic Macrocycle

No AbstractSupporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.angewandte.com or from the author.     

Ferromagnetic Ordering in a Diamond-Like Cyano-Bridged MnIIRuIII Bimetallic Coordination Polymer

No AbstractSupporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.angewandte.com or from the author.     

Catalytic Enantioselective Addition of Nitro Compounds to Imines-A Simple Approach for the Synthesis of Optically Active beta-Nitro-alpha-Amino Esters

No AbstractSupporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.angewandte.com or from the author.     

Formal Enantioselective Michael Addition with Umpolung of Reactivity

No AbstractSupporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.angewandte.com or from the author.     

Catalytic Asymmetric Direct Mannich Reactions of Carbonyl Compounds with alpha-Imino Esters

No AbstractSupporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.angewandte.com or from the author.     

Experience with in-house PT-schemes in the chemical industry

There are many different means of demonstrating the quality of performance of an analytical laboratory. Proficiency testing (PT) is just one! As in other analytical fields, interlaboratory comparisons play an important role in the chemical industry. Collaborative trials or method performance studies do have a long tradition in this field. Sometimes they were designed as laboratory performance studies with the clear aim of making analytical results comparable, e.g. petrol, coal, gas, noble metals analyses – not to mention the biggest PT scheme run on a daily world-wide basis – trade itself. All this is an ongoing process, which started long before the idea of assessing and accrediting the performance of analytical laboratories was born. However, when striving for accreditation in 1996, the analytical production laboratories of the Chemicals Business Unit of the Bayer AG in Germany implemented another facet of PT schemes. In-house-PT schemes are performed regularly and turned out to be useful in evaluating, monitoring, and thus improving, the quality of routine analytical work. Received: 5 December 2000 Accepted: 15 January 2001     

New developments and applications in GDMS

An overview is given about the new developments in GDMS, both with respect to the glow discharge source as to the coupling with various kinds of mass spectrometers. Moreover, as for every analytical technique, methodological and fundamental research is being carried out to improve the analytical results of GDMS, and some of the new developments in these fields will be discussed as well. Finally, the various analytical applications of GDMS will be presented. Received: 11 November 1998 / Revised: 29 January 1999 / Accepted: 6 February 1999     

Quality assurance in the view of a commercial analytical laboratory

 The necessity for analytical quality assurance is primarily a feature of the analytical process itself. With the full establishment of the EU domestic market, it is also becoming a legal necessity for an increasing number of analytical laboratories. The requirements which laboratories will need to fulfil are stipulated in DIN EN 45 001. Accredited testing laboratories must in fact provide evidence that they work solely in accordance with this standard. National and EU commissions, which are legislative authorities, tend therefore to specify analytical methods, e.g. in the form of regulations or appendices thereto, intended to ensure that results from different laboratories will be comparable and hence will stand up in a court of law. The analytical quality assurance system (AQS), introduced by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for the Environment in 1984, obliges laboratories to regularly participate in collaborative studies and thereby demonstrate their ability to provide suitably accurate analyses. This alone, however, does not sufficiently demonstrate the competence of a laboratory. Only personal appraisal of the laboratory by an auditor, together with the successful analysis of a sample provided by the same and performed under his observation, can provide proof of the competence of the laboratory. From an analytical point of view, the competence of a laboratory must be regarded as the decisive factor. Competence can only be attained through analytical quality assurance, which thus must be demanded of all laboratories. Received: 4 October 1996 Accepted: 15 January 1997