General aims: the student should learn the most important theoretical, instrumental and application aspects of the main instrumental techniques used in analytical chemistry.
Introduction to statistics: systematic and random errors. Mean distribution. Confidence interval. Confidence limits and confidence level. Outliers. Exercises and applications.
Voltammetry and polarography: Introduction to voltammetric and polarographic techniques. d.c. polarography. Ilkovic’ equation. Capacitive current. Differential pulse polarography. Anodic stripping Voltammetry. Comparison of detection limits. Applications
Chromatography: Introduction to separative techniques and their classification. The plate theory. Capacity factor and resolution factor. Chromatographic efficiency. Parameters of a chromatographic peak. Gaussian shape of a
chromatographic peak. Rate theory. Van Deemter’s equation. Temperature programming in GC. Gradient elution in HPLC. Injectors. Detectors. Mass spectrometric detector.
Quality control of analytical data: Introduction to quality control in analytical chemistry. Sample traceability. Internal quality control. Certified reference materials. Spiked reference samples. Inter-laboratory exercise. External and internal standards. Calibration curves. Blanks. Control chart.
Introduction to spectrophotometry. Atomic and molecular spectra. Width of atomic lines. Beer-Lambert law.
UV-vis spectrophotometry: light sources, monochromator, light detectors. Signal to noise ratio, signal modulation. Deviation from Beer-Lambert law.
Atomic spectrophotometry: light sources, flame atomizer, electrothermal atomizer, inductively-coupled plasma, correction of non specific absorption.