14N JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY MARCH 1994 VOL. 9 Conference Reports XXVIII Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale (CSI) June 29- July 4 1993 York UK A Scientific Journey to Old England- CSI XXVlII + Famous English History Four years ago in July 1989 we met Dr Edward Steers in Sofia at the XXVI CSI. It had just been announced that the UK would host the XXVIII CSL. We were in a cool conference room looking out into the heat of Sofia and yearning for Sunshine and good weather for York. Since that time Dr Steers and the rest of the committee worked extremely hard towards the conference and the dream of good weather came true! If we are to believe the movies and stories or indeed the information in the conference circular the weather for the meeting was very untypical for the UK.It tempted everyone to visit the sights of York such as York Minster the Jorvik Viking Centre the ARC Clifford’s Tower Treasurer’s House or simply to walk around the attractive campus of the University of York instead of sitting in lecture room V045 pushing through the crowds of people in the confined space available for the posters and instrument exhibition. (New instruments were not being demonstrated we have to wait for PittCon for that.) However we do think it was a good idea to organize the CSI at the University of York. This enabled both scientific dis- cussions and meeting of old and new friends to take place throughout the whole day beginning with the morning jog and coming across Boris L‘vov during the meals we all took together and finishing in the late evening in the college bars over a few pints of beer.Unfortunately even though the scien- tific programme was interesting and the conference fees which included all meals and accommodation were moderate it seemed to be a long way for colleagues from North America to come. It could be however that the late announcements and rumours that the meeting would actually start on June 29th (a Tuesday which is unusual) caused problems with booking tickets to Europe. Despite the problems more than 500 delegates from around the globe enjoyed the ‘conference mixer’ at Heslington Hall which was a good welcoming party on the first evening listened to a fanfare of trumpets at the opening ceremony and stayed until the end of the conference to receive the invitation from Professor Klaus Dittrich to go to the XXIX CSI in Leipzig in 1995.In between delegates had the chance to listen to the plenary lectures (given by K. Niemax C . L. Wilkins R. E. Hester D. A. King and M. L. Gross) and to choose from 28 invited and 88 contributed lectures given in four parallel streams. We counted ourselves lucky that we were attending as a ‘team’ so that we could resolve the ‘coincidences’ in the field of spectroscopy which were demonstrated by the lecture schedule. Some of the ‘all-round’ spec- troscopists will have to wait for publi- cation of the results presented and so it is to be hoped that many lecturers have submitted their manuscripts. The area allocated for viewing the approximately 400 posters (about 130 each day) and the space in which they were to be viewed was too limited to do justice to the interesting results pre- sented even though some of those listed in the programme were missing.For most of us ‘younger’ scientists working in different areas of atomic and inorganic mass spectrometry this was the first major conference we had attended hence it is difficult to say what the highlights of this CSI were. Therefore we have noted what was of particular interest to one or other of us. Electrothermal atomizers/vaporizers were discussed with several techniques in combination with hydride AAS (e.g. G. Schlemmer and Y. Z. Zinbi) or with chromatographic separation for speci- ation analysis (e.g. D. C. Baxter and G. Knapp) and with both ICP-AES (e.g. H. Nickel) and ICP-MS (e.g. E.Hoffmann and A. Stroh). It would seem that speciation which is very important for environmental and biological research is becoming a ‘boom’ area in analysis. The use of GC-MIP- AES (e.g. N. W. Barnett J. Mierzwa and R. Lobinski) and GC/HPLC/ SFC-ICP-MS (e.g. J. A. Caruso R. S. Houk E. H. Evans and A. V. Hirner) to study the binding of elements in gaseous samples and in solution was discussed. Another approach to investigating such problems is the combination of HPLC-hydride generation (AAS/AES/ ICP) or FI with AAS/AES or ICP-MS as the method of detection (e.g. J. F. Tyson M. Gomez S. F. Durrant D. Stuewer H. Emteborg and A. A. Brown). Of particular interest to us also were papers dealing with discrete sampling in ICP-AES and ICP-MS. Laser ablation as a sampling technique with the poten- tial for distribution analysis in different types of solid samples (including isotope ratio analysis in for example environ- mental and geological material) was the subject of several presentations (e.g.M. Thompson J. G. Williams V. Majidi H. P. Longerich P. J. Rommers D. J. Bate and F. E. Lichte). It would be a serious omission not to say a word about ICP-MS one of the most expensive but also most efficient techniques used in ‘atomic’ spectrometry. However as with the situation for graph- ite furnace techniques some of the interesting developments were presented at the graphite atomizer Post-CSI Symposium held in Durham. However in addition to the lectures which gave reports of combinations of ICP-MS with both separation techniques and laser ablation as mentioned above we had the opportunity to listen to an interesting approach to dealing with the accuracy of the results from ICP-MS (B.L. Sharp) the efficiency of ion formation and ion processes in a complex system a high temperature-normal pressure plasma source and low pressure ion transport system (e.g. L. S. Dale S. D. Tanner R. F. Browner J. W. Olesik and M. J. Ford) and the application of ICP-MS in environmental research (e.g. L. Moens). It is unfortunate that it is not possible to mention here all the authors of the interesting posters pre- sented. We saw posters with excellent layout not just those prepared using the resources of large companies and organ- izations but a lot of authors had worked diligently to produce their results and to present them clearly.There were also posters which looked as if they had been scribbled down during the journey to York! Despite the full scientific programme the conference organizers had arranged trips so that the foreign delegates in particular could see something of the area other than just the University. There was a journey into the history and music of York Minster through an organ and choir concert. CSI tradition- ally includes an excursion for delegates during the meeting. Although some of the destinations were a bit far for half a day they certainly whetted everyone’s appetite to come back to Yorkshire even for a holiday.JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY MARCH 1994 VOL. 9 15N The final conference gathering took place at the National Railway Museum a good place for train enthusiasts.However it did leave us longing for the refectory at the University where we have fond memories of the ample meals. After the six days in York our team then had an interesting journey to Durham (via the open-air museum at Beamish and with a fish and chip lunch) to the Post-Symposium on Graphite Atomizer Techniques. We stayed in Durham Castle where the meeting was held the next place on our journey through English history. Many interes- ting lectures were presented at the meet- ing which was well organized by I. L. Shuttler. We also had the opportunity to spend a few hours at the ICP-MS Post-Symposium which was being held nearby. (The differences in comfort between the two symposia were related to the prices of each one!) It is clear that the organizers of the XXVIII CSI and the associated Post- Symposia spared no efforts in ensuring everything went well and we thank them all.We will endeavour to organize the XXIX CSI to include interesting speakers and under good conditions. We wish all spectroscopists luck with their work so that they can report lots of good news at the end of August 1995 The Leipzig Team University of Leipzig Germany See you in Leipzig. XXVlll Colloquium Spectroscopicurn lnternationale (CSI) Post-Symposium Graphite Atomizer Techniques in Analytical Spectroscopy July 4-7 1993 Durham UK The XXVIII CSI Post-Symposium on Graphite Atomizer Techniques in Analytical Spectroscopy was held in Durham from the 4th to 7th July 1993. For me this was the first time I had participated in a really great scientific meeting quite an extraordinary and exciting experience.For those who had already attended the CSI meeting in York the Symposium began on American Independence Day (marked by the Stars and Stripes outfits of some of the participants from the USA) with a bus trip to the mediaeval city of Durham. This gave everyone a beautiful tour through the North Yorkshire Moors scenery with a break for lunch at the legendary Harry Ramsden’s Fish and Chips restaurant. So lunch was celebrated in typical English manner a meal that really matched all expectations of the 90 par- ticipants from 20 different countries. After lunch the tour continued with a visit to the Beamish ‘Open Air Museum’ just outside Newcastle where we felt as if we had stepped back in time to life in Northern England in the early part of the 20th century.This is a ‘living’ museum with fully restored villages a coal mine farms and actors dressed accordingly telling everyone what life was like during this period. The dentist’s surgery was particularly gruesome! The next stop was Durham a city in Northern England with a wonderful historic centre providing an excellent location for the Symposium. The meeting took place at the univer- sity but some other arrangements had also been made for example all meals were eaten together in the Norman Castle built in 1072. Some participants were even accommodated within its old walls. So on arriving in town the main question was whether you were lodged in the Castle (the lucky ones) or in one of the university’s student houses (the not so lucky ones!).Everyone gathered before dinner on the Sunday evening for a social mixer in the Tunstall gallery in the Castle an appropriately grand location for such a gathering of atomic spectroscopists. On Monday morning the official part of the meeting began with the opening ceremony by Ian Shuttler. After some ‘housekeeping’ announcements (which we later became quite used to) he quickly passed over to the first scientific lecturer. This was Jim Holcombe who presented an interesting lecture on ETV-MS with an electron impact ionizer instead of an ICP atomizer. Other highlights of the day were Ralph Sturgeon speaking about FAPES (furnace atomization plasma emission spectrometry) and Dave Styris about bulk diffusion in graphite layers.After lunch the first of two poster and discussion sessions were held in a small room in the cellar of the Castle. The first poster session concentrated on funda- mental and theoretical areas and ranged from investigations of the use of a CID detector for continuum source ETAAS presented by Jim Harnly to the use of metallic platforms for standardless analyses from Professor Ma. From the general level of noise coming from the room where the posters were displayed it was clear that the participants were finding a lot to discuss. The late afternoon lecture session continued with an excellent overview by Dimiter Tsalev on the development of the analysis of biological matrices with the GFAAS over the last 10 years and was complemented by the following lecture from Yngvar Thomassen show- ing the advantages of coupling hydride Delegates enjoying their fish and chip lunch Discussions during one of the poster sessions16N JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY MARCH 1994 VOL.9 Ian Shuttler (L) Frank Portala ( C ) and Werner Schrader entering into the spirit of the pub tour generation with the graphite furnace for the determination of antimony in body fluids. In the evening a guided tour through Durham Castle had been organized. We all listened intently to the eventful and exciting history of the Castle and of course its ghosts. After dinner we were offered the opportunity of participating in a pub tour through the old town with the aim of having at least one pint of good English ale in each of the town’s pubs.The organizers who had warned that only a half pint should be drunk by those not used to English beer had anticipated that only few participants would join in but hardly anyone wanted to miss such an extraordinary experience of English culture and virtually all attendees waited at the alloted time to come along. Even splitting the group into two did not help. Such masses of ‘CSI-tourists’ simply had to overwhelm the traditional pub atmosphere in every pub we went into. Nevertheless we all enjoyed the night although because of the early closing hours we did not quite have the chance to achieve the aim of drinking in all the pubs on the schedule. Early the next morning it was Nancy Miller-Ihli who had the responsible job of presenting the first lecture on high-accuracy ultrasonic slurry GFAAS determinations fortunately not in beer and with confidence considering how late to bed we all were! The next session was chaired by Vahid Majidi who is always entertaining.He introduced the lecture given by Mike Hinds (for whom is gold not like gold) on a comparison of different determinations of silicon in gold. Uwe Heitmann proceeded to dis- cuss the use of laser excited atomic fluoresence with ETAAS for the determi- nation of selenium arsenic and anti- mony. Sadly the next lecturer Phil Riby could not be with us due to business reasons and so Clare Smith’s lecture on using continuum source ETAAS with a linear photodiode array detector was moved forward. The Tuesday afternoon poster session concentrated on applications of ETAAS and these ranged from the novel such as the determination of iodine as mercury iodide by ETAAS presented by Professor Bermejo-Barrera and her students to improvements in methods for the deter- mination of molybdenum and vanadium in sediments by Rhodri Thomas. There was much to expect of the late after- noon’s programme as it was dominated by the most well known names in atomic spectrometry.Boris L‘vov spoke about precision and detection limits in Zeeman GFAAS followed by Greet de Loos- Vollebregt with a study of the dynamic range in Zeeman GFAAS. She paid special attention to the precision meas- ured in concentration units. Walter Slavin continued with a lecture about the working range and the stability of characteristic masses in GFAAS. He emphasized the influence of the lamp current of a hollow cathode lamp.Sadly as David Littlejohn could not be present due to illness the organizers had twisted Jim Harnly’s arm to step in for David The ‘Prince Bishop’ with all the ‘CSI-crew on the River Wear below Durham Castle Professor Bermejo-Barrera (R) and some of her group from Spain and chair this session a job he performed well in controlling the questions and developing discussion on what appears to be one of the current ‘hot’ topics of discussion in ETAAS work. Unfortunately the discussion session was cut short by the university security guard who insisted on locking the lecture theatre for the night! There was a social programme also organized for the Tuesday evening a boat trip on the ‘Prince Bishop’ cruising on the River Wear below the ancient Durham Cathedral and Castle.All day long we had doubted whether the boat would stand the weight of the whole CSI-crew. As is usual in science the problem was finally solved by ‘trial and error’. We were lucky. The boat did not founder and we could enjoy the beautiful evening weather on board with a barbe- cue and yet more good English ale. A jazz band had been arranged to provide the musical entertainment. A special challenge was given for the presentation of short serenades from different countries. If there were enough voices from one particular country people had to present a typical song. So we had the chance to listen to songs from Russia North America England (which seemed to go on and on!) Scotland (the subject of which I was The barbecue!JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY MARCH 1994 VOL.9 17N informed concerned fighting the English!) Norway and Germany. For Italy G. Torsi formed his own group and gave an excellent solo performance of an aria from ‘Aida’. For everyone present the evening was very enjoyable. On Wednesday morning the sym- posium continued with Vahid Majidi presenting a lecture about gas-phase and surface reactions in ETV-AAS (despite the audience participation with a number of people assisting with their laser pointers directed at his slides on the screen!) and Albert Gilmutdinov who then explained the basics of atomic absorption with a few very very simple equations. At short notice Dmitri Katskov filled David Littlejohn’s lecture session and talked about a new design of graphite tube containing a graphite filter. Trevor McAllister provided the final lecture of the Symposium with a presentation about the detection of gase- ous oxides from nitrate decomposition in graphite furnaces by mass spec- trometry. There has been much dis- cussion in the literature about this topic in the last few years and it was interesting to observe the discussion that developed between Trevor McAllister Boris L‘vov Jim Holcombe and Dave Styris who have all been involved in these investigations. In conclusion the meeting was a great success and for me it was a new exciting experience. I was surprised about the good relationships between all the par- ticipants. Many of them have known each other for many years and meet regularly at such meetings. During the day they were involved in long often heated discussions and in the evening they sat together to have a drink. I got the impression that the Post-CSI partici- pants were like a huge family and even I felt included in this. I would like to thank the organizers Ian Shuttler David Halls and John Dean and all the companies that helped to ensure the success of the meeting with their financial support. Frank Portala Bodenseewerk Perkin-Elmer GmbH Uberlingen Germany