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Vol. 32 No. 4
July-August 2010

The Project Place | Information about new, current, and complete IUPAC projects and related initiatives.
See also www.iupac.org/projects

Analytical Chemistry in Action

The scientific work of the Union is undertaken by the divisions via a series of individual projects. The following division meeting report, which focuses mostly on ongoing projects, therefore seems most at home in The Project Place section.

by Brynn Hibbert, secretary of Division V

Following its well attended and successful meeting in Glasgow in 2009, the Analytical Chemistry Division was kindly hosted by the Portuguese chair of its Subcommittee on Solubility and Equilibrium Data (SSED), Maria Clara F. Magalhães. Known as the “Portuguese Venice,” Aveiro is on the Atlantic coast with waterways crossing the town. The university has a vibrant chemistry department, with a strong analytical chemistry component.

The Analytical Chemistry Division in Aveiro, Portugal, in February 2010.

Establishment of a new Subcommittee on pH
One of the strengths of the Analytical Chemistry Division is its system of subcommittees and working groups. At the meeting, the division decided to create a subcommittee on pH. Taking into account IUPAC leadership in this field, the importance of pH measurements in general, and the historical place of electrochemical methods in the past IUPAC structure, the Analytical Chemistry Division was considered the appropriate organizational entity to host this group. Maria Filomena Camões will chair the new subcommittee. She is currently vice president of the division and has been a leader of the group that in recent years brought a clear IUPAC policy to the field of pH. One immediate task for the subcommittee is to provide thoughtful input into the debate about worldwide experiments for young people in the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, which will focus on the quality of water used by communities.

The Orange Book
Like many divisions, the Analytical Chemistry Division is responsible for a color book. The Compendium of Analytical Nomenclature: Definitive Rules (the Orange Book) was last revised in 1997, and a web version made available in 2002 (http://media.iupac.org/
publications/analytical_compendium/
). The challenge for any division intending to revise a color book is how to maintain compatibility with the definitive Gold Book, while properly updating concepts and terms. After initial debates in Glasgow, the division decided that it would produce a new text version, with any new terms being abstracted into the on-line Gold Book. Bringing together definitions in a single text, and in chapters that are well understood by analytical chemists, will mean that the Orange Book will still have a future in a world dominated by the internet. The division agreed on a work flow in which any definition that eventuates in the Orange Book must come from the Gold Book or International Vocabulary of Metrology, or be included in PAC recommendations that will duly feed into the Gold Book. The chapters and task group chairs responsible for each chapter are shown in the next column. Brynn Hibbert is coordinating the group and will edit the final text. Please contact a task group chair if you can help with the revision of a particular chapter.

Revision of the Orange Book
Chapter Title Chair
Chapter 1 Fundamental concepts and terms (metrology), chemometrics (and statistics), quality assurance. Paul De Bièvre
Chapter 2 Sampling and sample preparation Paulo DeZorzi
Chapter 3 Methods of analysis depending on measurements of mass and volume Maria F. Camões
Chapter 4 Separation Tatyana Maryutina
Chapter 5 Spectroscopic methods of analysis Zoltán Mester
Chapter 6 Mass spectrometry David Bunk
Chapter 7 Electrochemical methods of analysis José M. Pingarrón
Chapter 8 Radioanalytical methods Zhifang Chai
Chapter 9 Surface analysis Luisa Abrantes
Chapter 10 Thermal methods of analysis Carlos Castro
Chapter 11 Immuno- and bio-analytical methods of analysis Jan Labuda 

It is interesting to compare the present 11 chapters with the 19 in the 1997 edition. There has been consolidation around fundamental methods, with the loss of explicit chapters on auto-analysis, titrimetry and gravimetry, thermal methods, magnetic methods, and a chapter on applications. It has also been decided to stick to definitions of use and importance. The new edition will not be a textbook, but a genuine compendium of terms.

Walter Lund.

Salute to Retiring Member Walter Lund
Participants at the division meeting in Aveiro also received the news that Walter Lund is retiring from the University of Oslo, and from the division after many years of service. Division president Ales Fajgelj wrote the following to the head of Lund’s department:

“Following his field of speciality in chemistry, Walter became a very active member of the IUPAC Analytical Chemistry Division, and more specifically the IUPAC Commission on Microchemical Techniques and Trace Analysis in 1990. Walter served as Norwegian national representative between 1990 and 1997, was a titular member between 1998 and 2001 and became the vice president of the Analytical Chemistry Division in 2008 and with this also one of the officers of the Analytical Chemistry Division Committee. I had the opportunity to work closely with Walter in recent years. There is no need to mention his scientific contribution, as it is well reflected in numerous publications and educational work. But what I would like to point out are Walter’s strong personality, openness, critical, but positive thinking, perseverance, and continuous willingness to contribute to the voluntary IUPAC work. Actually, Walter had been elected to serve as president of the IUPAC Analytical Chemistry Division for this biennium: 2010–2011. This fact alone indicates the high esteem Walter has obtained among IUPAC members. It was purely Walter’s decision to reduce his work for IUPAC at this stage. We tried several times to convince him to change his mind, but unfortunately we were unsuccessful. Although we will remain in contact with Walter through IUPAC projects, members of Analytical Chemistry Division, as well as IUPAC in general, are going to miss an excellent scientist and a very good friend.”

The Analytical Chemistry Division is in an exciting phase, with its members actively contributing to the work of IUPAC. There is a clear succession plan for its officers and with its subcommittees and Orange Book project, the division will have plenty to do in the coming biennium.

www.iupac.org/web/ins/500


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