Anal Bioanal Chem DOI 10.1007/s00216-013-7242-1

BOOKS AND SOFTWARE IN REVIEW

Douglas A. Skoog, Donald M. West, F. James Holler, and Stanley R. Crouch: Fundamentals of analytical chemistry, 9th ed., international ed. Thomas J. Wenzel

# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 Bibliography Fundamentals of analytical chemistry, 9th ed., international ed. Douglas A. Skoog, Donald M. West, F. James Holler and Stanley R. Crouch Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning ISBN: 978-1-285-05624-1 Paperback, 958 pages January 2013; £168.00

Book’s topic This book is the 9th edition of a text that has been widely used in undergraduate analytical chemistry courses. Classical wet methods of analysis, electrochemical methods, spectrochemical methods, and separation techniques are covered. This comprehensive overview of all areas of analytical chemistry affords the potential to use this book in the variety of undergraduate analytical chemistry courses offered at different colleges. The use of spreadsheets in analytical chemistry is incorporated into examples and exercises and developed further in a recommended companion volume Applications of Microsoft Excel in Analytical Chemistry, 2nd Ed. Contents The book has seven parts, each of which has chapters that develop specific topics. Part 1–Tools of Analytical

T. J. Wenzel (*) Department of Chemistry, Bates College, Lewiston, MA 04240, USA e-mail: [email protected]

Chemistry–has seven chapters on chemicals, apparatus, and unit operations; the use of spreadsheets; calculations in analytical chemistry; errors; statistics; and sampling, standardization, and calibration. Part 2–Chemical Equilibria–has three chapters on acid–base, complexation, and precipitation processes. Part 3–Classical Methods of Analysis–has six chapters on gravimetry and titrations. Part 4–Electrochemical Methods–has six chapters on standard electrode potentials, redox titrations, potentiometry, electrogravimetry, coulometry, and voltammetry. Part 5–Spectrochemical Analysis–has six chapters on the basics of spectroscopic methods, molecular absorption, molecular fluorescence, atomic spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. Part 6–Kinetics and Separations–has five chapters on kinetic methods, gas chromatography, highperformance liquid chromatography, and miscellaneous separation techniques. Part 7–Practical Aspects of Chemical Analysis–has four chapters that are available on-line as pdf files. These chapters focus on laboratory activities and provide experiments that can be used to demonstrate methods included in the book. Comparison with the existing literature Several textbooks are available for undergraduate analytical chemistry courses and cover similar topics. Noteworthy ones include Quantitative Chemical Analysis by Daniel Harris (W. H. Freeman, 2011), Analytical Chemistry by Gary Christian (Wiley, 2003), and Analytical Chemistry 2.0 by David Harvey (2010). The Harvey book, originally published by McGraw–Hill, is now available free, on line, on the Analytical Sciences Digital Library. These books are often used in one-semester survey courses or courses that emphasize classical wet analysis methods over instrumental methods. Another set of books focus on instrumental analysis and are used by many instructors in the second semester of courses on analytical chemistry. These include Principals of Instrumental Analysis by Skoog, Holler, and Crouch (Cengage,

T.J. Wenzel

2007), Instrumental Methods of Analysis by Settle, Lamp, McCurdy, Vitha, Gregory, and Ma (Wiley, 2011), Chemical Analysis: Modern Instrumentation Methods and Techniques by Rouessac and Rouessac (Wiley, 2007), and Instrumental Methods of Analysis by Sivasankar (Oxford, 2012). Critical assessment A strength of this book is its comprehensive overview of analytical chemistry. A weakness is that you cannot do justice to the 1,000-plus pages of text in an undergraduate course. At times it reads more like a reference book than a textbook, and beginners will struggle to comprehend many sections. Instructors will need to guide students to specific pages of the text for information that supports what they include in their class. Later chapters in some areas repeat material discussed in an introductory chapter to the section. For example, Fig.24–22 in the introductory

chapter on spectrophotometry is identical with Fig.27–1 in the chapter on molecular fluorescence. This repetition adds to the length of the book and often detracts from readability. Substantial numbers of problems are included at the end of each chapter that can be assigned to students as in-class or homework exercises. However, as with other textbooks, the real problem-solving nature of analytical chemistry is given superficial treatment. Summary Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry is a comprehensive undergraduate textbook that can be used for one or two-semester courses. The variety of topics frequently included in quantitative and instrumental analysis courses are covered. The book can serve as a useful resource to instructors and students to enhance material covered in the class.