General Overview:

CHM 217H1 is the first in a series of courses designed to introduce students to the topic of chemical detection and measurement. As well as being a varied and interesting discipline in its own right, analytical chemistry plays an essential role in many other important subjects such as:

• biochemistry
• clinical chemistry
• environmental science
• food and nutrition
• forensic science
• organic chemistry and spectroscopy
• medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry
• pharmacology and toxicology

Whether performing blood tests, verifying the safety of our food and drinking water, determining the cause of a fire, or identifying genetic disease markers, analytical chemistry touches every aspect of our daily lives.

This course provides an introduction to the fundamental principles of chemical measurement used in medical diagnosis, quality assurance and control, and research studies. It will teach you how to correctly handle and interpret experimental measurements, compare results and procedures, and calibrate analytical instrumentation. You will also learn how to perform many analytical procedures including volumetric analysis, potentiometry, UV/visible and infrared spectrophotometry, flame atomic spectrometry, and chromatography.

Throughout this course, there will be a strong emphasis on good laboratory practice (GLP), error analysis and the correct use of statistics, and problem-solving skills. As such, it will provide an excellent practical foundation for students interested in research opportunities, regardless of the specific area of interest or program of study.

Course Text & Other Materials:

The current course materials (required and recommended) are:

Skoog, West, Holler, and Crouch, “Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry”, 9th ed., Brooks/Cole Publishing.

Note that the text is available bundled with the solutions manual (ISBN 1-285-56816-8). Used copies should also be available, as this has been the text for the equivalent course at UTM for some years.

An electronic version is also available from the publisher’s web site, at a lower cost than the print version.

Harvey, "Analytical Chemistry 2.1".

LibreTexts™ open educational resource on-line open access text book. Note that a print version of this text is also available for purchase.

Supplementary (recommended):

Student solutions manual, “Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry”, 9th ed., rooks/Cole Puhlishing.

Statistics manual (recommended):

D. Brynn Hibbert & J. J. Gooding, Data Analysis for Chemistry, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press

Lab manual (required):

CHM217 Laboratory Manual, available from Chemistry Club Stores - please see their web site for pricing and store hours.