Reagent Chemicals
Reagent Chemicals[lower-alpha 1] is a publication of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Analytical Reagents,[1] detailing standards of purity for over four hundred of the most widely used chemicals in laboratory analyses and chemical research. Chemicals that meet this standard may be sold as “ACS Reagent Grade” materials.
| Author | American Chemical Society |
|---|---|
Release number | 11th edition |
| Publisher | American Chemical Society, Oxford University Press |
Publication date | 1950; 2016 |
| Media type | Print; electronic |
| Pages | 843 |
| ISBN | 9780841230453 |
| Website | pubs |
These standards relieve working chemists of concerns about how pure their chemicals are: if they order “ACS Reagent Grade,” they are assured of consistent purity, no matter which supplier they order from. ACS Reagent Grade chemicals can also be used for procedures that require stringent quality specifications and a purity of equal to or greater than 95%.[2] The American Chemical Society does not validate the purity of chemicals sold with this designation, but it relies on suppliers, acting in their self-interest, to meet these standards. This arrangement has worked well for many decades.
In addition to specifications for each chemical, Reagent Chemicals provides detailed methods for determining how to measure the properties and impurities listed in the specifications. There are detailed explanations of many types of analyses – gas, liquid, ion, and headspace chromatography, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and optical emission spectroscopy, to name a few.
Reagent Chemicals is primarily of interest to manufacturers and suppliers of chemicals to laboratories worldwide. Most chemists simply specify “ACS Reagent Grade,” knowing that these chemicals will be sufficiently pure for their needs, without knowing the details. Many standards organizations and federal agencies that set guidelines require the use of ACS-grade regent chemicals for many test procedures. This includes the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).[3] An exception would be those working on trace analyses (measuring contaminants in the environment, for example), where small impurities in reagents would be significant.
Reagent Chemicals Online
After eleven paper editions over 68 years, Reagent Chemicals became an electronic resource in 2017.[4] This allows content to be updated as standards change and new reagents are added. The publication is updated several times a year with new reagents and new methods of analysis. Changes are published online six months before they become the official standard, allowing manufacturers to adjust their labels or processes.[5]
While the full details of most reagents are behind a paywall, that for acetone is publicly available to showcase a typical entry.
History of Reagent Chemicals
Early 1900s The need for high-quality analytical reagent grade chemicals was recognized by chemists in the early 1900s when variations in the purity of routinely used laboratory chemicals began to produce unacceptable variations in the analytical analysis.
1903 With these concerns in mind, the American Chemical Society took the initiative to create the Committee on the Purity of Reagents, the forerunner of the Committee on Analytical Reagents.
1917 The American Chemical Society established the ACS Committee on Analytical Reagents. This Committee, over the past 100 years, has established specifications for reagent grade chemicals used worldwide. William F. Hillebrand (1853-1925) was appointed the chairman of the committee. Hillebrand was one of Washington's most distinguished chemists. He achieved such stature first with the Geological Survey and then with the Bureau of Standards. His colleagues referred to him as the "Supreme Court of Chemistry." He played a paramount role in judging which analytical methods would be published as ACS standards.[6]
1920s The Committee began publishing specifications for reagent chemical and test methods in scientific journals during the early 1920s. Analytical methods, at this point, were primarily what we now consider to be “Classical Wet Methods.”
1950 The publication of the 1st edition of Reagent Chemicals introduced the application of analytical instrumentation. The introduction of these instruments into Reagent Chemicals forever changed the analytical laboratory. Chemists could improve sensitivity levels, as well as testing accuracy. Improved sensitivity created an opportunity for the Committee to re-evaluate certain purity and impurity level specifications to create special use reagents. An example would be “Spectrophotometric Grade Solvents.”
2000 The 9th edition was published and continued a trend toward eliminating or simplifying some tedious classical procedures for trace analyses and adding instrumental methods, where possible.
2006 The release of the 10th edition introduced Monographs for Standard-Grade Reference Materials.
2016 The 11th edition introduces heavy metal test methodologies utilizing ICP-OES.
2017 The new online edition of Reagent Chemicals, based on the 11th edition in print, improved the speed and simplicity with which the Committee communicates updates and changes by bringing the entire reference resource to the award-winning ACS journals platform.
Committee Objectives
The ACS Committee on Analytical Reagents is the only Committee in the world dedicated to establishing specifications and developing validated test methods for determining the purity of analytical reagents. From the printing of the 1st edition of Reagent Chemicals in 1950 to the publication of today’s 11th edition, the principal goal of the ACS Committee on Analytical Reagents is to establish specifications and test methods for analytical reagents that allow the scientific community to produce reliable and accurate analytical results.
The Committee is also dedicated to the utilization of new techniques and technologies to improve the sensitivity, precision and accuracy of analytical methodologies. The Committee also strives to utilize available resources to remove and replace chemicals that pose either significant health risks to analysts or are deemed harmful to the environment, whenever possible, from current test methodologies.
Today’s Committee
Members of the Committee on Analytical Reagents primarily come from three principal areas:
- I. Industry
- Chemical Manufacturers
- Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
- II. Academia
- University Chemistry Departments
- III. Governmental Organizations
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- US Geological Survey
- Environmental Protection Agency
The Main Committee on Analytical Reagents is composed of four working sub-committees: I. Inorganic II. Organic III. New Items IV. Validation
Notes
- more properly “ACS Reagent Chemicals; Specifications and Procedures for Reagents and Standard Grade Reference Materials”
References
- "About ACS Reagents". ACS Publications. American Chemical Society. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- Schieving, Aaron (November 13, 2017). "The Seven Most Common Grades for Chemicals and Reagents". Lab Manager. Ontario Canada: LabX. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- Thomas, Robert (March 1, 2016). "Replacing Traditional Heavy Metals Testing with Modern Plasma-Based Spectrochemical Techniques". Spectroscopy. 31 (3): 24–33. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- "ACS Reagent Chemicals: A New Online Reference for Chemists". ACS Axial. American Chemical Society. 2017-05-03. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- "ACS Reagent Chemicals Releases Its First Major Update". ACS Axial. American Chemical Society. 2018-02-15. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- Frank Wigglesworth Clarke (1925). "Biographical Memoir of William Francis Hillebrand 1853-1925" (PDF). www.nasonline.org/. National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved November 8, 2018.