Lectures : 10 h - Tutorials: 6 h - Preceptorship: 6 h - Laboratory sessions: 45 h

Objectives

There is practically no socio-economic or scientific field that can do without the contribution of analytical chemistry (food safety, environment, fraud and counterfeit, doping, historical and archaeological heritage). The characteristics of the demand are: speed, low cost, reliability, possibility to perform tests from microsamples (drop of blood, etc.), use in the field, determination of a large number of compounds from the same sample (oil products, proteomics), test of trace and ultra-trace amounts of compounds, speciation of elements, etc.

Analytical chemistry has evolved greatly in the last few years to be able to respond to these demands, partly thanks to technological advances in particular in the field of separation sciences and their coupling with mass spectrometry, but also thanks to the increasing development of bioanalytical chemistry with the use of biological tools (antibodies, receptors, enzymes, DNA strands, etc.) in various immunoassays, bioassays and biosensors. We have also seen a miniaturisation of analytical techniques, which allows faster analyses and consumes less reagents and solvents for fast diagnosis. Lab-on-chips (LOCs) are in full development and use microfluids.

This course is intended to provide students with the basic knowledge required for solving an analytical problem, irrespective of the source of the request. It also aims at providing the concepts necessary for the development of new methodologies, often miniaturised, a sector which is currently undergoing large-scale expansion in the field of medical and environmental diagnosis.

It starts with the study of various types of interactions and interface transport methods. Irrespective of the information sought about a chemical substance (concentration, structure, chemical state, prediction of its transport or elimination, etc.) and the nature of the milieu in which it is found (chemical, biochemical, biological), the design of an analytical strategy always requires good knowledge of the interactions that bind this substance to its own milieu and in most cases the use of a separation method. The fundamental aspects of separation methods and analytical electrochemistry are then briefly presented as they are examined more thoroughly in the tutorial sessions, while their practical aspects are approached in the laboratory course. This allows more importance to be given to the use of multi-dimensional separations for the analysis of complex mixtures and in particular for proteomic analysis, to bioanalytical chemistry (immunoassays, bioassays, biosensors) and the miniaturisation as lab-on-chips.

Syllabus

• Definition of the characteristics of current analytical chemistry
  
• Separation sciences
  
• Introduction to chromatographic methods: fundamental magnitudes and various interactions used
  
• Gas chromatography.
  
• Liquid chromatography (the different modes: adsorption, partitioning, ion exchange)
  
• Detection modes and coupling with mass spectrometry
  
• Electrokinetic methods (free capillary, micellar phase, electro-chromatography)
  
• Trace analysis: sample treatment
  
• Two-dimensional coupling for the separation of complex mixtures (chromatography, electrophoresis) - applications to the analysis of oil products and proteomic analysis
  
• Electrochemistry
  
• Fundamental aspects
  
• Analytical electrochemistry
  
• Bioanalytical methods
  
• Based on structural recognition: immunoassays
  
• Based on the mode of action: enzyme inhibition bioassays and cellular bioassays
  
• Miniaturisation: integrated separation microsystems and lab-on-chip for total analysis
  
• Biosensors

Tutorials

• Fundamentals and Optimization
  
• Gaz chromatography
  
• Miniaturization in LC, Adsorption Chromatography
  
• Partition Chromatography
  
• Ionic Chromatography/ Size exclusion
  
• Capillary electrophoresis

Preceptorship

• Supercritical fluid chromatography, advantages-drawnbacks/interest compared with GC and LC + an article dealing with fast separations (use and interpretation of "kinetic plots")
  
• Simple ion exchange chromatography and interest of coupled chemical reactions for selectivity, ion pair chromatography + an article about hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC)
  
• Electrophoretic miscrosystems + a presentation of the students on a research thematic proposed by each preceptor (GCxGC, LCxLC, sample handling...)

Laboratory sessions

The four week laboratory course enables hands-on experience of the different methods such as gas and liquid chromatography, electrophoresis and electrochemistry. These methods teach the fundamental magnitudes and different techniques (separation, detection, various coupled methods) enabling their implementation. The treatment of the sample associated with liquid chromatography and gas chromatography is also used on examples such as the analysis of pesticide traces in surface water and the characterisation of volatile compounds in wine.
The students will carry out fifteen different experiments during this lab course. In general, each experiment deals with a specific case, besides the more theoretical aspect of the method, of the characterisation/analysis of compounds from varied fields such as the environment, food industry, pharmaceutical and oil industry.
It is important to note that the students use the latest generation material if possible (example of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry coupling) so that they are subsequently quickly operational both in an industrial setting and in research.

Requirements : Basic analytical chemistry (aqueous solutions, pH, complexes, redox systems).

Evaluation mechanism : Examination on the course, report for pratical works.

Last Modification : Wednesday 31 May 2017