Organic Analysis and Microanalysis

The first attempts to perform elementary analyses on organic compounds by combustion were performed by Lavoisier using various oils. The method was subsequently 

Johan Kjeldahl first described his method for the determination of nitrogen in proteinaceous materials in 1883, when he was director of the Chemical Laboratory at the Carlsberg Foundation. At that time there was a pressing need for a more convenient and reliable procedure. Wanklyn s albuminoid ammonia method gave low and erratic results. Kjeldahl developed a succession of modifications that resulted in a technique very different from Wanklyn s - one which is still substantially the same today.65 66 

An early worker in the field of microanalysis was F. Emich, but the introduction of micromethods was largely due to the work of F. Pregl in the early years of the twentieth century. Pregl scaled down the methods of Liebig and Dumas and developed reliable procedures that spread world-wide. He was honoured with the Nobel Prize in 1923, the first time the award had been made for achievements in analytical chemistry. The automation of C, H, N analyses was introduced in the early 1960s.67 

The name of Fritz Feigl will always be associated with spot tests. An article has traced his life and work, from his early years in Europe and his important association with Friedrich Emich, to his later years in Brazil.72 The microscope has been an important instrument in the analytical laboratory since the early nineteenth century. An article has traced the history of chemical microscopy by surveying the important books that have appeared on the subject since 1827,73 

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