6 JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY, FEBRUARY 1987, VOL. 2 Conference Report 1 I t h National Conference on Spectrochemical Excitation and Analysis: 2nd-5th September, 1986, Edgartown, Martha‘s Vineyard, MA, USA This conference began in 1976 as the New England Conference on Spectrochemical Excitation and Analysis; the first meeting was held in Newport, Rhode Island and it was a one day round table event. The conference organisers, Thomas R. Gil- bert, Hank Griffin, Richard Kennally and Walter Cox, did not intend to start an annual meeting. Owing to the success of the first meeting, however, it was decided to hold a second meeting in 1977; this was held at the New England Aquarium in Boston. In 1978, the meeting was held in Woods Hole, Massachusetts; the 1979 meeting was held in Groton, Connecticut at which time it became the National Conference on Spectrochemical Excita- tion and Analysis.In 1980, the conference returned to the New England Aquarium. At this point it was decided that the conference should be held in the same location each year and since 1981, the conference has been held on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Since 1981, the meeting has been run by Mr. Hank Griffin of Texas Instruments and the meeting is held each year just after the American “Labor Day” holiday in early September. The conference is held at the delightful Harbor View Hotel in Edgar- town on the east wide of the island. This conference might best be des- cribed as a “sleeper” meeting as it is not large and not too well known.It is, however, an “enthusiastic” meeting with much cross-talk and informal discussion among attendees. The quality of papers over the years has been excellent. It should be noted that commercial type presentations are strongly discouraged. This year’s meeting began with a session on Tuesday, September 2nd, on environ- mental analysis chaired by Thomas R. Gilbert of Northeastern University. Mucklow (IBM) presented a particularly interesting paper describing waste-water analysis by ICP and DCP techniques and Miller (Enviresponse Inc.) discussed the determination of priority pollutant metals by DCP techniques. On Wednesday morning, Leighty (Thermo Jarrell-Ash) chaired a session entitled “Atomic Spec- troscopy with the ICP-AES” and Slavin (Perkin-Elmer) presented a particularly interesting paper on the selection of a laboratory spectrometer for elemental analysis.Davidowski (Perkin-Elmer) des- cribed automatic optimisation of ICP operating conditions and Skrabak (Baird Corporation) discussed applications of ICP atomic fluorescence spectrometry for the determination of precious metals. The session concluded with a paper by Leighty on the analysis of organic solvents by ICP-AES. The Wednesday afternoon ses- sion was on recent advances in sample introduction and several interesting pap- ers were presented. Gilbert (North- eastern) evaluated a platinum grid nebu- liser for ICP-AES and Evans (Baird Corporation) described recent work with ultrasonic nebulisers. Anderau (Perkin- Elmer) compared various nebulisers designed for high-solids matrices and Uhr (Leeman Labs) used a continuous flow hydride generation device to determine various metals with ICP-AES.The ses- sion concluded with an excellent paper by Michel (University of Connecticut) dis- cussing carbon furnace sample introduc- tion for the metastable nitrogen plasma. The Thursday morning session was devoted to new sources and spectromet- ers. Belliveau (Providence College) presented a paper on laser-induced break- down spectroscopy (LIBS) of aqueous and ceramidglass samples at atmospheric pressure and in air, Gilbert (North- eastern) described a novel rotating disk electrode for the analysis of lubricating oils and Routh (ARL) presented two papers on various aspects of ICP Fourier transform spectrometry.Lyke (PRA International) discussed detection limits and figures of merit for a photodiode detector echelle ICP spectrometer. In the morning’s final paper, Leighty (Thermo Jarrell-Ash) described some new applica- tions of the Smith - Hieftje background correction AAS system. The Thursday afternoon session was devoted to DCP techniques. Krull (Northeastern) des- cribed an inexpensive interfacing of gas chromatography with the DCP for the determination of methylmercury in fish. In a very pragmatic paper, Klales (Brandywine Instrumentation Company) described maintenance and simple repair procedures that could easily be used to repair DCP echelle spectrometers. Kin- sey (ARL) described an automated hand- ling system that could easily be interfaced to DCP spectrometers.The meeting concluded on Friday morning, September 5th, with a session organised by Gerry DeMenna (Beckman) on DCP-AES analytical techniques. Clif- ford (Villanova University) utilised com- ponents from an inexpensive “Mr. Cof- fee” machine (a popular American coffee maker) to stabilise a DCP echelle spec- trometer. Centrella (General Battery Corporation) determined various impuri- ties in lead and sulphuric acid for the storage battery industry and Perrone (Tufts University) described applications of DCP-AES to metabolic research and studies of clinical nutrition. In a related paper, McEwen (Tufts University) dis- cussed applications of sequential reading DCP-AES to the clinical and biomedical research laboratory. Finally, Olear (Texas Instruments) described selenium determination using a hydride generator.This meeting is held in a superb loca- tion at the right time of year. The registra- tion fee (US$450 in 1986) includes hotelJOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY, FEBRUARY 1987, VOL. 2 7 SECOND SURREY CONFERENCE ON PLASMA SOURCE MASS SPECTROMETRY University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK 6th-8th July, 1987 The second Surrey Conference will be devoted solely to ICP Source Mass Spectrometry. The conference will include invited and contributed papers, a workshop and a short course. Papers are invited and abstracts (250 words) should be submitted by 31st March 1987. Intending speakers are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to publish their texts in an issue of JAAS. Further information from: Or.A. L. Gray, Department of Chemistry, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH, UK. Analytical Journals Published by The Royal Society of Chemistry Subscription Rates 1987 The Analyst 12 issues per annum plus index f 160.00 ($31 5.00) Rest of World f 179.00 RSC members €32.00 Analytical Abstracts 12 issues per annum plus index f239.00 ($463.00) Rest of World f263.00 RSC members €62.50 Analytical Proceedings 12 issues per annum plus index f75.00 ($148.00) Rest of World €84.00 RSC members f 1 1.50 Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (JAAS) 6 issues per annum plus two special issues 1987, plus index f 180.00 ($356.00) Rest of World f202.00 RSC members f36.00 Special Packages (Non-RSC members only) The Analyst, Analytical Abstracts and Proceedings €41 1 .OO ($801 .OO) Rest of World $455.00 The Analyst and Analytical Abstracts f364.00 ($709.00) Rest of World €403.00 The Analyst and Proceedings f200.00 ($394.00) Rest of World f224.00 N.B.The version of Analytical Abstracts printed on one side of the page only is no longer available. ROYAL SOCIETYOF Information Services Orderlng : Non-RSC members should send their orders to The Royal Society of Chemistry, Distribution Centre, Blackhorse Road, Letchworth, Herts SG6 1 HN, U K RSC members should send their orders to The Royal Society of Chemistry, Membership Manager, 30 Russell Square, London WClB 5DT, U K8 JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY, FEBRUARY 1987, VOL. 2 accommodation and three delicious meals appreciated by all. The 1987 National Hank Griffin, Texas Instruments, MS each day.The seafood specialities of the Conference on Spectrochemica1 Excita- 10-16, 39 Forest Street, Attleboro, MA hotel (lobster, shrimp, swordfish, etc.) tion and Analysis will be held in Martha’s 02703, USA. are particularly delicious. A clambake Vineyard once again at the same location Peter N. Keliher was held on Thursday evening of the from September 8th to 11th. Information Villanova University, conference and was an outstanding event on the meeting may be obtained from Mr. Villanova, PA, USA _ _ ~ ASU Highlights Environmental analysis by atomic spec- trometry is the theme of the ASU review in this issue. The application of, princi- pally, AAS, AFS and AES (with arcs, sparks, plasmas, flames, furnaces and lasers) as well as ICP-MS, to the monitor- ing of the air, atmospheric particulates, waters, including sea and river water and effluents, soils, plants, fertilisers and re- lated materials is reviewed over a 12- month period.For the first time in an ASU review an abbreviated form of the reference is provided at the foot of the review as an additional aid to the reader. While there have been technique advances across a broad range in the past year, some of the more notable develop- ments have concerned the direct intro- duction of samples other than liquids, particularly solids, powders, aerosols and gases, into a variety of different atom cells. This is clearly consistent with the dominant trend which the reader of the review will discern, the demand for faster analysis. The growth of interest in rapid multi-element techniques which can be readily automated is clearly evidenced from the papers reported. While this is understandable given the growing demand for environmental monitoring during an era of tight financial con- straints, this does emphasise the need for a greater awareness of quality control procedures. In this context it is encourag- ing to report several new environmental CRMs even though more are required, and a number of inter-laboratory com- parisons even if these have been slow to develop. Les Ebdon Plymouth Polytechnic, UK Society for Analytical Chemistry Gold Medal The 18th SAC Gold Medal has been awarded to Dr. Alan L. Gray of the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.