ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY OF POLLUTANTS, LABORATORY

The Analytical chemistry of pollutants and laboratory course is a highly qualifying, teaching and training experience, with the aim to guide students in identifying the most suitable procedures for choosing the analytical methodologies to evaluate the presence and distribution of pollutants in various matrices of environmental interest.
The course allows identify the best analytical techniques to determine the content of pollutants at the trace and ultra-trace level. These assessments will be carried out also thanks to the acquired knowledge of the pollutants history from industrialization.

Attendance and active participation in the activities proposed by the course (lectures, seminars, multidisciplinary laboratory) and individual study, will allow to produce and interpret analytical data for a correct assessment of the presence of pollutants in the environment. In particular, at the end of the course the students will be able to recognize the sources of the main organic and inorganic pollutants, as well as the possible chemical transformations they can undergo in the various environmental compartments. Students will also be able to recognize the most suitable analytical techniques according to the pollutant and the matrix.

In-depth knowledge of the advanced analytical techniques. Basic knowledge of organic chemistry, statistics and chemometry.

All the analytical phases will be faced for the determination of pollutants in environmental systems:
1. Characterization of the environmental matrix. Sampling strategy (distribution of sampling sites, sampling instrumentation). Sample handling and storage procedures.
2. Analytical determination. Differentiation procedures of the different chemical and physical forms of the analytes.
3. Study of the sources and evaluation of the pollutants impact.
Several pollutants will be illustrated, including: pesticides, insecticides, chlorinated insecticides (DDT, metoxychlor, lindane), organophosphates, flame retardants, disinfection byproducts, with particular attention to legal limits and protocols.
Will be made experimental exercises to apply the techniques and methodologies studied.

Alfred R. Conkling, Field sampling - Principles and Practices in Environmental Analysis
Emma P. Popek, Sampling and analysis of environmental chemical pollutants
Zhang C. Carl, Fundamentals of Environmental Sampling and Analysis
François Jarrige and Thomas Le Roix, The contamination of the earth – A history of pollutions in the industrial age
Batley G.E., Trace Element Speciation: Analytical Methods and Problems, CRC Press, Florida
piro T.G., Stigliani W.M., Chemistry of the Environment,Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River

The lectures will give the opportunity to discuss the most suitable techniques for the sampling of contaminated sites and the laboratory procedures to be applied. During the laboratory exercises, students are invited to discuss the experimental results and interpret the results obtained.

Lectures and laboratory practice

Italian

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