Elemental analysis

Elemental analysis falls within the ambit of analytical chemistry, the instruments involved in deciphering the chemical nature of our world.

Antoine Lavoisier is regarded as the inventor of elemental analysis as a quantitative, experimental tool to assess the chemical composition of a compound.

At the time, elemental analysis was based on the gravimetric determination of specific absorbent materials before and after selective adsorption of the combustion gases.

[1][2] Today fully automated systems based on thermal conductivity or infrared spectroscopy detection of the combustion gases, or other spectroscopic methods are used.

For organic chemists, elemental analysis or "EA" almost always refers to CHNX analysis—the determination of the mass fractions of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and heteroatoms (X) (halogens, sulfur) of a sample.