Your lab used to be clean enough. . .

Advances in modern analytical instrumentation have made it possible to perform sub-ppb determinations on a routine basis. The analyte levels in the blank may be significant when compared to the sample, so the uncertainty of the blank  measurement can obscure the accuracy of the result. Clean handling techniques are required for this type of analysis; your lab, and your methods, must be transformed. What steps do you need to take?

Clean chemistry is partly a matter of having the right equipment: ultra-pure reagents, vessels that will not contaminate your  samples, air filtering systems, proper clothing, and so on. And clean chemistry is also a state of mind—a state of constant awareness. It involves knowing exactly what you are doing at any given moment, and how those actions will affect the analytical blank.

This book is a guide to creating the kind of lab you'll need to conduct trace-level chemistry.

In these pages, clean chemistry expert Dr. Robert Richter will teach you:

• What an "analytical blank" is, and how to safeguard it
• How to control airborne contamination and static
• Which materials make the best lab vessels
• The best methods for cleaning your vessels
• How to obtain ultra-pure reagents
• How to minimize analyst-based contamination
• How to decompose or evaporate samples without altering their analyte concentration
• and more...