Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Green analytical tools & remediation tools
The analytical properties
electromagnetic radiation
electric fields
Interaction between matter and
thermodynamic equilibrium,
kinetics
Crystalline state theory
Atomic & molecular theory
Figure 2.3
The milestones of the today's research program in Analytical Chemistry.
that we can solve today through the use of analytical chemistry; thus involving just surface changes of the
paradigm which Lakatos terms a research program [2].
If we interpret the change of paradigm in terms of a revolution which creates doubts about the core theory
of a discipline, it is clear that nowadays we continue to be in a normal period of the development of the
analytical sciences. However, the introduction of green analytical tools and remediation tools come from a
social demand about the present state-of-the-art analytical practices and because of that, we could agree with
Malissa that the chemistry has been moved from a chemiological paradigm, based on the scientific principles
established by Lavoisier, to a chemurgical paradigm and nowadays we must provide a social response in the
frame of an ecological paradigm. In this last approach, the chemical practices must be considered to be in a
close relationship with environmental equilibrium and the new social demands about health and safety [3].
So, the Green Analytical Chemistry paradigm is in fact an added value and an environmental responsibility
imposed on the old practices without a drastic modification of the basic ideas exposed by Malissa on the
primary paradigm of analytical chemistry which he defined from the equilibrium between rationalism and
empiricism, explanation of a result through deductive analysis and extension of the aforementioned
explanation through induction in a close interaction between axioms and facts, hypothesis and experiments
in a way to search for the truth from a theory (see Figure 2.4). In the case of Green Analytical Chemistry, we
will also consider environmental preservation.
So, we can conclude that the basic structure of the today's analytical chemistry is the same that at the end
of the twentieth century, that the scientific method is the basis of the methodology employed to establish the
correlation between the properties of the matter and its composition, that the interpretation of the analytical
facts continues to be well supported by the atomic and molecular theory and by the crystalline state theory
which both support the thermodynamic and kinetic principles of chemical reactions and the interaction
between matter, electromagnetic radiation and electric fields [4]. So the simple aspect which has been
drastically modified in the analytical chemistry paradigm has been the incorporation of the so called green
parameters to the basic analytical properties. Accuracy, representativeness, traceability, sensitivity and
selectivity in the renewed paradigm of Green Analytical Chemistry have been complemented and not changed
by additional considerations on the safety of operators and the environment, the strong reduction of reagents,
energy and solvents consumed, the search for as much as possible information about the samples from simple
and direct measurements and the responsibility of the laboratories about the elimination, or at least the
reduction and decontamination of analytical wastes.
