Figure 12.5(a)
Mass spectrometric confirmation of peak 11 as methyl cyclopentane.mical constituents of a sample. The chief areas in which automatic analysis is applied are the quality
control of industrial processes, environmental monitoring and the analysis of biological fluids. Each
application demands a close and frequent check on the levels of both desirable and undesirable
constituents within the system. Such checks generate a need for continuous analytical monitoring or
frequent sampling. It is convenient to consider separately the automatic methods designed to meet these
two alternatives.
The Automation of Repetitive Analysis
Automatic analysis consists essentially of the same steps as the corresponding manual method (p. 4). In
some cases this may be simple, the requirements amounting to a mechanical device for presenting the
sample to the detector, a timer to control the time of measurement and a data recorder. However, if
sample pretreatment and separations are necessary a variety of wet chemical stages needs to be
automated. Such automated steps may be included in what remains essentially as an operator procedure.
For