Environmental Analytical Chemistry

The first edition of Environmental Analytical Chemistry established a niche as the only volume with a wide-ranging review of analytical chemistry focused specifically on environmental science. This new edition has been thoroughly revised to account for the rapid changes and developments in the field over the past five years.

Separation science, atomic spectroscopy, and speciation determinations are areas where significant developments have been made, and these are reflected in the new edition. The importance of assessing the effects of pollutants on real systems is recognised by the restructuring of the chapter on biological testing and the incorporation of a new chapter on environmental toxicology. Self-assessment questions have also been added.

Environmental science was one of the key concerns of the latter part of the twentieth century and will continue to be into the twenty-first. Concerns for environmental protection and public health worldwide have led to extensive legislation. The investigation and modelling of environmental systems, together with the implementation of laws and regulations, have increased the demand for numerous environmental measurements, many of which are made through techniques within the broad range of analytical chemistry.

Many professionals regularly use data obtained by analytical chemistry techniques. Accordingly, even those who are not primarily analytical chemists, or even chemists, need sufficient knowledge of analytical chemistry's background to judge the quality and limitations of the environmental data obtained. A similar scenario arises in the academic world, where students engage in environmental science studies or projects requiring appropriate analytical chemistry information.

Both analytical chemistry and environmental science have extensive literature at varying levels of sophistication. However, few have attempted to link the two. This book provides the background to analytical chemistry and covers the principles of its most crucial techniques. It is presented in a way that enables users to understand a technique's strengths, weaknesses, and principles of operation without becoming bogged down in chemical minutiae. Links to environmental uses are indicated broadly and exemplified in more detail by accounts of specific, important environmental problems.

Written for students of chemistry, environmental science, and related disciplines, the book is also an essential reference for those who use environmental information and need to be aware of the factors affecting its quality and reliability.

• This is still the only book to focus exclusively on the analytical chemistry methods relevant to environmental studies.
• It is as useful to chemists as it is to non-specialists who require an understanding of the techniques employed to collect data in their disciplines (e.g. environmental researchers, ecotoxicologists, etc.).