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This course will explain the fundamentals to applications of separation analysis techniques that are essential for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of organic trace components. It will provide a clear introduction to representative methods such as gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS), liquid chromatography (LC), and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS), including their principles, characteristics, and applicable targets. By incorporating actual measurement examples, the course will clarify the points for differentiating and selecting each method, as well as addressing considerations for improving analytical accuracy and reproducibility. The content is designed to systematically help beginners to practitioners understand the importance of separation analysis, aiming for the acquisition of practical analytical skills.

When conducting structural analysis of organic compounds, IR, NMR, and MS can be considered the three sacred treasures. If the analysis is performed correctly, it is possible to elucidate the structure of even quite complex compounds. However, actual spectra are often not of a single compound, as seen in textbooks, which can lead to considerable confusion for beginners in interpretation. Additionally, while database searches are a useful tool in structural analysis, the ability to read spectra is necessary not only for pattern matching but also for selecting the correct structure from among the candidates. In this course, we will provide lectures that include simple explanations of the principles, basic ways to interpret IR, NMR, and MS spectra, points to be cautious of during analysis, and how to proceed with actual analysis, along with some practical exercises.

Inorganic element analysis is required in various situations, including understanding the composition of industrial materials and products, the content of impurity elements, troubleshooting in manufacturing processes, and investigating factory wastewater and market products, encompassing research and development, production, and quality assurance. The main methods for inorganic element analysis include Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). ICP-OES, ICP-MS, and AAS require the samples to be in solution form for analysis, and sometimes complex chemical pretreatment that requires skill is necessary. In this course, we will provide a basic explanation of the principles, characteristics, measurement procedures, points to note during measurement, and how to interpret spectra for each analytical method. Additionally, we will introduce basic pretreatment methods and processing environments necessary to obtain the solutions required for measurement, as well as points to note during the work. Finally, we will present recent application examples related to ICP-MS.

This course will explain the key pretreatment techniques for accurate quantification and qualification in organic composition analysis. First, we will learn the necessity of pretreatment, its positioning within the overall analysis, and the factors that determine the amount of sample used for analysis from the basics. After that, we will describe the principles and procedures of major pretreatment operations such as grinding, extraction, drying, separation, hydrolysis, and derivatization. Various chromatographic separation methods, including GPC fractionation, will be introduced along with their appropriate applications and points to consider. Furthermore, we will present specific examples of pretreatment that include chemical decomposition, aiming to develop practical skills. The content is designed to cater to a wide range of participants, from beginners to practitioners.

With the advancement of device miniaturization and the composite of different materials, controlling the surface and interface of materials is becoming increasingly important. To control the surface and interface of materials, it is necessary to selectively analyze regions smaller than a few nanometers that influence their properties, making it difficult to obtain useful information through conventional bulk analysis that targets the entire sample. Surface analysis is an analytical method developed to meet this demand, sensitive to regions from 10 nm to 1 nm in depth. In this course, we will introduce the principles and characteristics of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS / ESCA) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), both widely used methods for analyzing surface composition, chemical structure, and functional groups, along with application examples of both techniques.

X-ray diffraction is a technique that analyzes the scattering from crystals present in materials such as inorganic substances, organic compounds, and polymers to identify the chemical structure of the substance (crystal) and evaluate properties related to the material, such as crystal size, orientation, quantity, and residual stress. X-ray diffraction is a long-established analytical method, and simple devices are commercially available; however, it is important to consider how data is obtained, such as by changing the configuration of the equipment depending on the measurement purpose. This course will explain the underlying measurement principles while presenting application examples. Solid-state NMR is a technique for analyzing the chemical structure of polymers that are insoluble in solvents, battery materials, inorganic compounds, and higher-order structures (crystalline/amorphous, polymorphs, etc.) that lose structural information when dissolved. In addition to the commonly used 13C NMR in solid-state NMR, examples of analyses using 29Si, 19F, 11B, and 1H will also be introduced. In NMR, besides structural analysis from spectra, dynamics analysis can be performed through measurements of relaxation times and diffusion coefficients. NMR has become quite automated in recent years, but understanding multiple measurement methods and having a certain level of experience is necessary for quantitative analysis and dynamics analysis. The course will also explain examples of dynamics analysis focusing on battery materials.