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Concept
Elemental analysis
Summary
Elemental analysis is a process where a sample of some material (e.g., soil, waste or drinking water, bodily fluids, minerals, chemical compounds) is analyzed for its elemental and sometimes isotopic composition. Elemental analysis can be qualitative (determining what elements are present), and it can be quantitative (determining how much of each is present). Elemental analysis falls within the ambit of analytical chemistry, the instruments involved in deciphering the chemical nature of our world.
Antoine Lavoisier is regarded as the inventor of elemental analysis as a quantitative, experimental tool to assess the chemical composition of a compound. At the time, elemental analysis was based on the gravimetric determination of specific absorbent materials before and after selective adsorption of the combustion gases. Today fully automated systems based on thermal conductivity or infrared spectroscopy detection of the combustion gases, or other spectroscopic methods are used.
For organic chemists, elemental analysis or "EA" almost always refers to CHNX analysis—the determination of the mass fractions of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and heteroatoms (X) (halogens, sulfur) of a sample. This information is important to help determine the structure of an unknown compound, as well as to help ascertain the structure and purity of a synthesized compound. In present-day organic chemistry, spectroscopic techniques (NMR, both 1H and 13C), mass spectrometry and chromatographic procedures have replaced EA as the primary technique for structural determination. However, it still gives very useful complementary information.
The most common form of elemental analysis, CHNS analysis, is accomplished by combustion analysis. Modern elemental analyzers are also capable of simultaneous determination of sulfur along with CHN in the same measurement run.
Quantitative analysis determines the mass of each element or compound present. Other quantitative methods include gravimetry, optical atomic spectroscopy, and neutron activation analysis.
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