Evaluation Report Publications of the Academy of Finland 1/11

3.1  Analytical chemistry
Analytical chemistry comprises a wide set of concepts and methods useful in various 
areas of science, pharmacy and medicine. Analytical chemistry is present at the 
different Finnish universities and research centres either as a separate unit or as part of 
a unit also connected to other chemical disciplines.
The development of analytical tools by the different units is most generally 
directed to environmental and bioanalytical issues. Analytical chemistry also directly 
supports research in inorganic chemistry, applied chemistry, materials chemistry and 
pharmaceutical chemistry. Moreover, the research in the field is in some cases 
motivated by the needs of specific industries, in particular the wood industry.
The most active research directions pursued by the analytical chemistry groups 
are focused on the development of separation techniques, in particular 
chromatographic, electrophoretic and mass spectrometric methods, the development 
of sensing devices, and sample preparation for organic and inorganic trace analysis. In 
addition to more traditional approaches, some units also have research activities 
within the field of nanoscience.
Due to its great diversity and close interaction with many other scientific 
disciplines, analytical chemistry is, in most countries, only partially covered and 
rather dispersed among universities and research institutes. Expertise in a wide range 
of spectroscopic techniques, thermal and surface analysis as well as microscopy 
methods can be found within various chemical departments in the Finnish universities 
or research centres.
The research quality and its international impact vary among the evaluated units. 
The most active analytical chemistry units should continue to perform good and 
innovative research in order to attract a large number of students who will readily 
find employment and fulfil the needs of society.
The panel finds that a closer collaboration between the many different small 
research groups dealing with inorganic trace analysis would be beneficial.
Research mobility, both inward and outward, has to be encouraged for all units.
Overall, the experimental infrastructures and equipment are very good and 
should at least be kept at the current level by providing sufficient funding to develop, 
update and replace the instrumentation in the future.