Quantitative analysis quantitation methods

Analytical methods can be classified in many different ways. Often we distinguish a method of identifying chemical species, a qualitative analysis, from one that deteiTnines the amount of a constituent, a quantitative analysis. Quantitative methods, as discussed in Section IB, are traditionally classified as gravimetric. 

You will come across numerous examples of qualitative and quantitative methods in this text, most of which are routine examples of chemical analysis. It is important to remember, however, that nonroutine problems prompted analytical chemists to develop these methods. Whenever possible, we will try to place these methods in their appropriate historical context. In addition, examples of current research problems in analytical chemistry are scattered throughout the text. 

In Section lA we indicated that analytical chemistry is more than a collection of qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis. Nevertheless, many problems on which analytical chemists work ultimately involve either a qualitative or quantitative measurement. Other problems may involve characterizing a sample s chemical or physical properties. Finally, many analytical chemists engage in fundamental studies of analytical methods. In this section we briefly discuss each of these four areas of analysis. 

Most potentiometric electrodes are selective for only the free, uncomplexed analyte and do not respond to complexed forms of the analyte. Solution conditions, therefore, must be carefully controlled if the purpose of the analysis is to determine the analyte s total concentration. On the other hand, this selectivity provides a significant advantage over other quantitative methods of analysis when it is necessary to determine the concentration of free ions. For example, calcium is present in urine both as free Ca + ions and as protein-bound Ca + ions. If a urine sample is analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy, the signal is proportional to the total concentration of Ca +, since both free and bound calcium are atomized. Analysis with a Ca + ISE, however, gives a signal that is a function of only free Ca + ions since the protein-bound ions cannot interact with the electrode s membrane. 

In potentiometry, the potential of an electrochemical cell under static conditions is used to determine an analyte s concentration. As seen in the preceding section, potentiometry is an important and frequently used quantitative method of analysis. Dynamic electrochemical methods, such as coulometry, voltammetry, and amper-ometry, in which current passes through the electrochemical cell, also are important analytical techniques. In this section we consider coulometric methods of analysis. Voltammetry and amperometry are covered in Section 1 ID. 

Although similar to chemical kinetic methods of analysis, radiochemical methods are best classified as nuclear kinetic methods. In this section we review the kinetics of radioactive decay and examine several quantitative and characterization applications. 

Fiber Analysis. Paper may be composed of one or several types of fibers, eg, animal, vegetable, mineral, and synthetic (see Eibers). Paper is generally composed of woody vegetable fibers obtained from coniferous (softwood) and deciduous (hardwood) trees. QuaUtative and quantitative methods have been developed to determine the fibrous constituents in a sheet of paper (see TAPPI T401). However, the proliferation in the number and types of pulping processes used have made the analysis of paper a much more complex problem. Comprehensive reviews of the methods are given in References 20 and 23. 

NAA is a quantitative method. Quantification can be performed by comparison to standards or by computation from basic principles (parametric analysis). A certified reference material specifically for trace impurities in silicon is not currently available. Since neutron and y rays are penetrating radiations (free from absorption problems, such as those found in X-ray fluorescence), matrix matching between the sample and the comparator standard is not critical. Biological trace impurities standards (e.g., the National Institute of Standards and Technology Standard Rference Material, SRM 1572 Citrus Leaves) can be used as reference materials. For the parametric analysis many instrumental fiictors, such as the neutron flux density and the efficiency of the detector, must be well known. The activation equation can be used to determine concentrations ... 

The development of methods and instrumentation, especially in the high field range, will already open up quite new areas of uses already in the near future. These may at least partly replace and complete solid-state vibration spectroscopy in the polymer field in cases where the amount of material is not the limiting factor. As far as we are able to predict the future, the development of exact quantitative methods of analysis, in particular, will rapidly develop to a high degree of accuracy. 

The normalization method is the easiest and most straightforward to use but, unfortunately, it is also the least likely to be appropriate for most LC analyses. To be applicable, the detector must have the same response to all the components of the sample. An exceptional example, where the normalization procedure is frequently used, is in the analysis of polymers by exclusion chromatography using the refractive index detector. The refractive index of a specific polymer is a constant for all polymers of that type having more than 6 monomer units. Under these conditions normalization is the obvious quantitative method to use. 

In Section 8.2.8 we have discussed the standard addition method as a means to quantitate an analyte in the presence of unknown matrix effects cf. Section 13.9). While the matrix effect is corrected for, the presence of other emalytes may still interfere with the analysis. The method can be generalized, however, to the simultaneous analysis of p analytes. Multiple standard additions are applied in order to determine the analytes of interest using many q > p) analytical sensors. It... 

The advantage of a qualitative approach is that it can usually be accomplished more quickly than a quantitative study, with lower overall resource requirements. In addition, qualitative analysis methods are less narrowly focused than are quantitative methods, thus increasing the likelihood of identifying and evaluating a broad spectrum of hazards. Qualitative analysis often constitutes the basis, or starting point, for quantitative studies. 

It is quite clear from Schemes 2.1-2.5 that in rubbers polymer identification and additive analysis are highly interlinked. This is at variance to procedures used in polymer/additive analysis. The methods for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the composition of rubber products are detailed in ASTM D 297 Rubber Products-Chemical Analysis [39]. 

Because HPLC and HPCE are based on different physico-chemical principles, HPCE may be expected to address areas in which HPLC has shortcomings [884]. One such area is time of separation. In terms of speed of analysis, selectivity, quantitation, methods to control separation mechanism, orthogonality, CE performs better than conventional electrophoresis and varies from HPLC (Table 4.49). CE has very high efficiency compared to HPLC (up to two orders of magnitude) or GC. For typical capillary dimensions 105—106 theoretical plates are common in CE compared to 20 000 for a conventional HPLC column and... 

Quantitative analysis using FAB is not straightforward, as with all ionisation techniques that use a direct insertion probe. While the goal of the exercise is to determine the bulk concentration of the analyte in the FAB matrix, FAB is instead measuring the concentration of the analyte in the surface of the matrix. The analyte surface concentration is not only a function of bulk analyte concentration, but is also affected by such factors as temperature, pressure, ionic strength, pH, FAB matrix, and sample matrix. With FAB and FTB/LSIMS the sample signal often dies away when the matrix, rather than the sample, is consumed therefore, one cannot be sure that the ion signal obtained represents the entire sample. External standard FAB quantitation methods are of questionable accuracy, and even simple internal standard methods can be trusted only where the analyte is found in a well-controlled sample matrix or is separated from its sample matrix prior to FAB analysis. Therefore, labelled internal standards and isotope dilution methods have become the norm for FAB quantitation. 

Whereas the components of (known) test mixtures can be attributed on the basis of APCI+/, spectra, it is quite doubtful that this is equally feasible for unknown (real-life) extracts. Data acquisition conditions of LC-APCI-MS need to be optimised for existing universal LC separation protocols. User-specific databases of reference spectra need to be generated, and knowledge about the fragmentation rules of APCI-MS needs to be developed for the identification of unknown additives in polymers. Method development requires validation by comparison with established analytical tools. Extension to a quantitative method appears feasible. Despite the current wide spread of LC-API-MS equipment, relatively few industrial users, such as ICI, Sumitomo, Ford, GE, Solvay and DSM, appear to be somehow committed to this technique for (routine) polymer/additive analysis. 

Applications Table 8.58 shows the main fields of application of inorganic mass spectrometry. Mass-spectrometric techniques find wide application in inorganic analysis, and are being used for the determination of elemental concentrations and of isotopic abundances for speciation and surface characterisation for imaging and depth profiling. Solid-state mass spectrometry is usable as a quantitative method only after calibration by standard samples. 

Analysis by the Detection of X-rays or y rays. EPMA is a fully qualitative and quantitative method of non-destructive analysis of micrometre-sized volumes at the surface of materials, with sensitivity at the level of ppm. All elements from Be to U can be analysed, either in the form of point analysis, from line scans and also as X-ray distribution maps. Current software allows the combination of elemental data in the latter, so that, for example, the digital data for those elements that corresponds to a selected phase will produce an X-ray map of the distribution of that phase in a given microstructure. 

Our band shape methods have made use of the principal component method of factor analysis (Pancoska etal., 1979 Malinowski, 1991) to characterize the protein spectra in terms of a relatively small number of coefficients (loadings) (Pancoska et al., 1994 1995 Baumruk et al., 1996). This approach is similar, in its initial stages, to various methods (Selcon, Variselect, etc.) that have been used for determining protein secondary structure from ECD data (Hennessey and Johnson, 1981 Provencher and Glockner, 1981 Johnson, 1988 Pancoska and Keiderling, 1991 Sreerama and Woody, 1993, 1994 Venyaminov and Yang, 1996). At this point, one can say these traditional quantitative methods have had little impact upon structural studies of denatured proteins. 

We will begin by taking a look at the detailed aspects of a basic problem that confronts most analytical laboratories. This is the problem of comparing two quantitative methods performed by different operators or at different locations. This is an area that is not restricted to spectroscopic analysis many of the concepts we describe here can be applied to evaluating the results from any form of chemical analysis. In our case we will examine a comparison of two standard methods to determine precision, accuracy, and systematic errors (bias) for each of the methods and laboratories involved in an analytical test. As it happens, in the case we use for our example, one of the analytical methods is spectroscopic and the other is an HPLC method. 

In recent years, several groups have proposed the use of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy as a technique capable of giving information on the pigment compositions with minimal damage of the artwork. However, until the development of quantitative methods for accurate elemental analysis, the LIBS technique was hardly competitive with other methods for quantitative analysis of the samples. 

Image analysis can be used to determine a variety of morphometric parameters including area, Feret s diameter, Martin s diameter, aspect ratio (ratio of minimum to maximum Feret diameter), perimeter, length, width, and form factor (the ratio of area/[perimeter]2), which can be related to specific particle shapes. Some of these functions are illustrated in Fig. 10 [14]. In addition, quantitative methods have been developed to measure particle shape [2,15,16]. 

Selection of a suitable analytical method can be made once the reason for carrying out the analysis is well understood. Analytical methods may be (a) qualitative or (b) quantitative or semi-quantitative. The former usually pose few problems if only an indication is required as to whether a particular analyte is present or not - certainly not how much with a value having a small uncertainty. If a negative result is required (i.e. confirmation of absence from the product), then one has only to worry about the limit of detection of the test used. Many tests to confirm the absence of impurities in pharmaceutical products fall into this category. Equally, rapid tests for positive confirmation are often made on unknown substances. These may subsequently be confirmed by other, quantitative tests. Quantitative methods are used in a variety of situations and a variety of different methods can be employed. What you must always remember is that the method used must be fit for the purpose. 

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