00090 - Analytical Chemistry

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing to the student the knowledge of analytical chemistry and chemiometry concepts necessary to perform quality controls on drugs and health products. In particular, the student will be able to criticaly evaluate the obtained experimental results of quality controls, following the guidelines of the european pharmacopoeia.

Course contents

Premise: students should have the basic knowledge of the following topics. General chemistry: chemical reactions, redox reactions, solutions, water as a solvent, electrolytes and non-electrolytes, solubility, solubilization process, activity and concentration, molarity, ways of expressing concentration of a solution, acids and bases, water autoprotolysis, acid and base dissociation constants, diprotic and polyprotic acids, pH of water solutions. Mathematics: logarithms, exponential numbers, second degree equations.
 
The program is divided in two blocks, called General Analytical Chemistry and Instrumental Analytical Chemistry
 

General Analytical Chemistry
Aims of analytical chemistry. How to perform a bibliographic search.
Statistical analysis of experimental data: errors in analytical chemistry, statistics of errors, tests of significance, error propagation, significant figures, absolute and relative analytical methods, calibration (external calibration, standard additions, internal calibration), least squares fitting, characteristics of an analytical procedure (accuracy, precision, specificity and selectivity, linearity range, detection and quantitation limits, robustness, ruggedness).
Analytical process: errors in analytical process, sampling of homogeneous and heterogeneous materials, sample treatment, reference materials.
 
Instrumental Analytical Chemistry
Fundamentals of analytical chemistry

Activity and concentration: ionic strength; activity; determination of activity coefficients. Equilibrium systems. Equilibria in solution. Principles of volumetric analysis. Main applications in the pharmaceutical field.

Instrumental analytical techniques

The analytical signal, qualitative and quantitative aspects: signal-to-noise ratio; methods for noise elimination. Instrumentation in analytical chemistry: principles of instrumental analytical chemistry; main components of instrumentation for analytical chemistry.

Atomic and molecular spectroscopy

Definition of electromagnetic radiation; interaction between radiation and matter: absorption and emission, energy levels and transitions; qualitative aspects: absorbance and emission spectra; quantitative aspects: Lambert-Beer law. Absorbance and emission atomic spectroscopy: principles and instrumentation; flame, electrothermal and plasma (ICP) sources. Molecular absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis): principles and instrumentation; definition of chromophore group. Molecular emission spectroscopy: principles and instrumentation; photoluminescence and bio-chemiluminescence. Applications in the pharmaceutical field.

Electroanalysis. Introduction. Potentiometry. Voltammetry.

Principles of separation. Liquid-liquid extraction. Solid phase extraction. Solid phase microextraction. Principles of chromatography. Liquid chromatography. Gas-chromatography.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Copy of the slides used by the teachers will be provided to the students.

Texts:

- "Fondamenti di Chimica Analitica", D.A. Skoog, D.M. West, F.J. Holler, S.R. Rouch (EdiSES, S.r.l., Napoli, 2005).

- "Elementi di Chimica Analitica", Daniel C. Harris (Zanichelli Editore, Bologna, 2005).

- “Chimica analitica strumentale”, D.A. Skoog, F.J. Holler, S.R. Crouch (EdiSES, S.r.l., Napoli, 2009).

Teaching methods

Classes with theoretical explanations and numerical exercises.
Students can contact the teacher for further explanations.

Assessment methods

Oral exam.

Teaching tools

Video projector and PC. Slides of all the lectures are available as PowerPoint files.

Office hours

See the website of Mara Mirasoli