INSTRUCTIONS
Assignment Goals
The idea for this assignment is for you to gain a broader understanding of the applications of the analytical techniques that we are seeing in the course this semester. I only have the time to present to you the basics of how these techniques work, but researchers are constantly pushing the boundaries of what these techniques can such as, analyzing the protein compositions of whole cells, miniaturizing processes so that they can be done on a microscope slide, probing biochemical functions with electrodes in living organisms, and generally just pushing the limits of the techniques further and further. Hopefully in doing so you will gain a greater appreciation for the tools and techniques we have covered, as well as greater insight into how they can be used.
Finding articles
It is important that the technique be central to the paper (e.g. appears as a key word, or in the title). I am not looking for a paper the focuses on a synthetic reaction, but happens to use the analytical technique to characterize their product. The best source to look for truly analytical chemistry articles would be Analytical Chemistry (shocking I know). Analytical Chemistry is a particularly good starting point as it covers all forms of analyses, whereas some other journals are rather focused (e.g. Journal of Chromatography A, Electrophoresis). You can also search for articles based on key words, the best literature search engine for analytical chemistry is SCOPUS. Note that you may need to be on campus, or running a VPN to get access to SCOPUS and most journal articles.
read the paper and understand what innovation the authors have made to analytical chemistry either in the instrument, the technique, or the application. Summarize for me the article and focus on what the innovation was and how that innovation was achieved. The total summary should be a couple of paragraphs long.