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History of Analytical Chemistry at Purdue

    For over seventy years, Purdue University’s Division of Analytical Chemistry, in the Department of Chemistry, has been recognized as an innovative and evolutionary international leader.  This stellar program, currently ranked number two in the country by U.S. News and World Report, has consistently earned the number one or two position in the country for nearly three decades.  This prominence is unparalleled, and is rooted in countless new discoveries and patents in the development of advanced instrumentation that has benefited healthcare, pharmaceutical, chemical, manufacturing, and many more industries worldwide.

Journal CoverSeveral of the program’s renowned faculty and students, including Fred Lytle, Fred Regnier, Jon Amy, Harry Pardue, and R. Graham Cooks (faculty and emeritus faculty), and former students John Walters, and Joel Harris, have won the American Chemical Society’s Analytical Division Award in Chemical Instrumentation.  In 2007 this highly prestigious award was awarded to faculty member, Scott McLuckey.  Our graduates have gone on to achieve their own greatness.  As evinced from the testimonials on our website, our students contribute their success to Purdue’s unique environment, collegial faculty, excellence in academics, and unwavering commitment to their success – a foundation that is unbeatable.

    This unique environment is reflected throughout the Division of Analytical Chemistry as well as the entire department.  The continuing philosophy within Purdue Chemistry has deep roots in collaboration and collegiality, internal and external partnerships, and in a firm commitment to combine knowledge and expertise to come together for the good and benefit of all, rather than just of one.

    It is no wonder that for 75 years, the Purdue University Department of Chemistry’s Division of Analytical Chemistry has consistently been recognized as an international leader, as a hotbed of novel design and implementation of advanced instrumentation, and as an exceptional educator in preparing the next generation of innovators!

History of Purdue’s Many Contributions to the Evolution of Advanced Instrumentation

    The following table highlights only a few of the many ways in which Purdue’s Analytical Chemistry program has taken a leadership role in contributions that led to the design and implementation of novel advanced instrumentation.  Because many of these innovations involved new and novel techniques, or significantly increased performance of established techniques, we also gave "short courses."  We invited the public to come to us, often with their samples, for intense study to understand and apply the techniques. This sharing of technology earned Purdue a reputation as an outstanding place to do instrument development with both instrument manufacturers and funding agencies.

**Note:  The companies listed are the original companies (and their names) at the time of technology innovation.

Timeframe

Instrument

Purdue Personnel

Company

1934

Recording spectrophotometer

Mellon

General Electric

1948

Cary 10-11 spectrophotometer

Mellon

Cary

1954

Prism-grating IR

Edgell, Amy

Perkin Elmer

1958

Gas chromatograph

Amy, Baitinger

Wilkens

1959

HR-60 NMR

Muller

 

1960

Prep scale gas chromatograph

Amy, Baitinger

Fisher

1960

Concentration comparator

Pardue

Sargent

1963

Automated glucose detector

Pardue

Miles Labs

1966

M-66 mass spectrometer

McLafferty

Varian

1966-70

RMH-2 mass spectrometer

McLafferty, Beynon, Amy, Baitinger, Cooks

Hitachi-Perkin Elmer

1970-74

Array UV-VIS spectrometer

Pardue

Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, Waters, Perkin Elmer

1969-75

MIKES mass spectrometer

Byenon, Cooks, Amy, Baitinger

AEI

1968-75

ESCA

Amy, Baitinger, Winograd

Hewlett Packard

1966-75

Specialized lab computers

Perone, Rogers

Hewlett Packard

1970-76

XL-100 NMR

Santini, Grutzner

Varian

1970-78

Array detectors

Pardue, Santini

Hewlett Packard

1975-79

High field NMR

Santini, Markley, Grutzner

Nicolet

1974

Nanosecond PMTs

Lytle

RCA

1976

Synchronously pumped dye laser

Lytle

Spectra Physics

1976

LCEC

Kissinger

BAS

1978-83

Specialized laboratory spectrometry

Cooks, Amy, Baitinger

Finnigan

1980

Tandem mass spectrometry

Cooks, Amy, Baitinger

Finnigan

1981

FT-ICR

Freiser

Nicolet

1983

Specialized robotics

Fuchs, Kramer

Zymark

1984

Ion traps

Cooks, Amy, Baitinger

Finnigan

1990

Stopped-flow and pulsed flow spectrophotometers

Margerum

 

1991-94

Fieldable automated air sampler

Shepson

Hewlett Packard

1994-96

Fieldable PAN measurement

Shepson

 

1994-1999

ITSIM program

Cooks

Finnigan

1997

Cylindrical ion trap (CIT)

Cooks

 

1997

QoqoQ

Cooks

 

2000-01

Miniature mass spectrometer (CIT based)

Cooks

Griffin Analytical Technology

2001

GPS controlled airborne environmental sampling

Shepson

 

2001

PTR source for MS

McLuckey, Shepson

Nicolet

2000

Flowing afterglow MS

Squires, Kenttamaa

Nicolet, Extrel, Finnigan

2000-01

Multiple coild NMR probes

Raftery

Matrix NMR

2001-2007

Many new technologies (see “current” just below)

   

    Since 2000, Purdue University President Martin C. Jischke has further capitalized on the strengths of Purdue’s Chemistry Department with the establishment of Discovery Park.  Discovery Park is a brand new center involving nanotechnology, e-commerce, entrepreneurship, collaborative science and engineering, and much more.  Its goal is to seamlessly allow researchers to come together across campus to create bold, innovative new discoveries.  It grants space and cutting-edge equipment in Discovery Park as a result, to further enhance collaboration, with the goal of technology commercialization in Purdue Research Park.  Purdue Research Park has recently been named as the top university-affiliated research park in the nation, boasting over 100 incubator companies as a result of Purdue University leadership and innovation.

    Purdue Chemistry is no stranger to Discovery Park.  Many or our scientists are involved, including Philip Low, Graham Cooks, Dan Raftery, and Fred Regnier.  All are involved in the creation of new companies within Discovery Park, in areas of advanced instrumentation and drug discovery and development. It is a very exciting time for Purdue Chemistry, as well as for Purdue University

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Paul Shepson, Head
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