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Availability of the New 11th Edition of the ACS Specifications and Procedures for Reagent Chemicals

In June of 2016, the 11^th edition of the American Chemical Society’s book of Reagent  Chemicals will be officially published, which will be the culmination of 7 years work for twenty-five dedicated analytical chemists and their affiliated organizations who volunteer their time and resources by serving on this ACS committee. This new compendium will reflect new methodology, updated procedures and more stringent specifications with regard to chemical reagents used for analytical testing purposes. An image of the front cover of the book is shown below.

11th edition of the ACS book of Reagent Chemicals

The process of updating procedures and setting new specifications is a time-consuming process and can sometimes take years to complete. By carrying out various testing protocols including sample preparation and spike recovery procedures, it ensures that new methods are rugged, robust and will stand up to scrutiny, wherever the book is used around the world. Many standards organizations and federal agencies that set guidelines, specifications and/or analytical testing methods—including the United States Pharmacopeia (USP)  and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) —require the use of ACS grade reagent chemicals in many of their test procedures. For that reason, it has become the “de facto” reference book worldwide for the chemicals used in high-purity laboratory applications.

What is a Reagent Chemical?

The specifications in this book are intended to serve for reagent chemicals and standard-grade reference materials to be used in precise analytical work of a general nature. The term “reagent-grade chemical” implies that it is a substance of sufficient purity to be used in most chemical analyses or reactions. Standard-grade reference materials are suitable for preparation of analytical standards used for a variety of applications, including instrument calibration, quality control, analyte identification, method performance, and other applications requiring high-purity materials. It is recognized that there may be special uses for reagents and standard-grade reference materials, which may need to conform to more rigorous specifications. Therefore, where necessary, some of the specifications include requirements and tests for certain specialized uses. However, it is impossible to include specifications for all such uses, and thus, there may be occasions when it will be necessary for the analyst to further purify reagents known to have special purity requirements for certain uses.

What's in the Eleventh Edition

With the publication of the 11^th edition, some of the many highlights include all the additional “supplements” posted online since the publication of the 10^th edition in 2009, removal of some obsolete test methods, clearer instructions for many of the existing ones, and also the introduction of many new methods. Overall, the safety, accuracy, and ease of use in specifications for approximately 70 of the 430 listed reagents have been improved, and seven new reagents have been added. While there are numerous minor changes, such as incorporation of the2011 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), including the recalculation and redefinition of some atomic weights. In particular, there are several changes and additions worth noting:

·         The old heavy metal, sulfide precipitation test method is still valid, but has been replaced with inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (ICP–OES) for over 50 reagent chemicals.

·         The use of inductively coupled plasma–mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) is highly recommended for analyzing many of the ultra-high purity acids and chemicals.

•        The replacement of atomic absorption (AA) with plasma-based techniques, as long as method validation is carried out.

•        The replacement of polarography for measuring carbonyl impurities with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS)

•        New methodologies introduced for the first time include liquid chromatography– mass spectrometry (LC–MS) and headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) analysis.

•        The continuation of green chemistry initiative, which incorporates fewer toxic chemicals in existing test methodologies.

For more information about the contents of the book, please check out the following article published in Spectroscopy magazine:

• New ACS Book of Reagent Chemicals Reflects the Growing Trend to Replace Traditional Heavy Metals’ Testing with Modern Plasma-Based Spectrochemical Techniques , Atomic Perspectives Column, Spectroscopy Magazine, 31 (3), 24-33, March, 2016

To order the book, please visit the ACS Reagent Chemicals Website by clicking on the image of the book below: