Preface Free

This book is aimed at junior technicians and other junior analysts who are just starting their careers or are just moving into a different area of analytical chemistry. In some instances, such people are yet to realise how many errors it is possible to make in the laboratory. The book is filled with possible methods that can be used and/or modified to suit certain sample types. Having personally made many of the errors listed in this book and spent 30 years attempting to prevent students from making the rest, I thought that it would help to present the methods along with some of the most common mistakes so that others know they exist, and can try to avoid them. Sections of hopefully useful hints and tips are therefore provided. Since many of the errors are common to more than one technique, e.g. since all of the sample introduction problems are the same for ICP–MS as for ICP–OES, they are only given once. The reader may therefore have to read more than one chapter.

The main thing for an analyst to ask is “where can things go wrong in my analysis?” Once they start thinking like that, making errors is less likely. Have I got a representative sample? Where can I lose my analyte? Where can contamination enter? Have I checked that my tools, e.g. balance, pipettes, and analytical instruments are working correctly? Are there interferences? Now that I have my data, am I sure I am doing the calculations correctly? Most importantly, am I obtaining the right answer for my certified reference materials or quality control sample? If not, then at least one thing during the analysis is going wrong.

Given the almost infinite number of ways the human brain can devise of “cocking things up”, the text cannot possibly be exhaustive. However, I hope someone somewhere finds my musings helpful.

My thanks go to Dr Mike Foulkes who had the misfortune to read through much of the book, offering useful suggestions in many places. Thanks also to Dr Rob Clough who also contributed a thought or two. Thanks should also go to the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Andrew Fisher