Combining Spectroscopic and Chromatographic Techniques

An interview with Charles Wilkins, the winner of the 2013 American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry Award in Chemical Instrumentation, sponsored by the Dow Chemical Company.

Part of the 2013 podcast series presented in collaboration with the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS), in connection with SciX 2013, the federation’s North American conference.

For more podcasts in this series from 2013 and 2012, visit

Charles Wilkins is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arkansas.

This award recognizes Wilkins for his contributions to a broad range of analytical instrumentation techniques that have been documented in over 300 publications. He has also authored and or co-edited nine books covering a variety of analytical instrumentation methods. These publications have been cited extensively in the chemical literature and include a dozen papers cited more than 100 times each and a lifetime total of over 7000 citations.

Wilkins is distinguished by his leading contributions in a wide range of analytical instrumentation, including advances in Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, FT-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometry, ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (MS), and computerized laboratory data acquisition and analysis. He has primarily been recognized for his contributions to the development of “hyphenated” instrument approaches to couple distinct types of instrumentation for analytical purposes. He was the first to combine gas chromatography (GC)-IR and MS into a single analysis system and also was a leader in the combination of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis and NMR, in ways that opened the current use of HPLC-NMR for metabolomics studies. His work, in collaboration with Michael Gross, also pioneered the use of ICR-MS for analytical applications.

Wilkins has served in numerous professional capacities, including terms both as chair of the analytical chemistry division and chair of the computers in chemistry division of the American Chemical Society. He also was chair of the department of chemistry at the University of California, Riverside for seven years. He served on the advisory board of the National Center for Toxicological Research of the FDA and has served on many other advisory boards and panels. Wilkins also serves on the editorial advisory boards of numerous journals, among them Mass Spectrometry Reviews, Applied Spectroscopy Reviews, and, previously, two terms on the Analytical Chemistry editorial board. He is a contributing editor of Trends in Analytical Chemistry, and serves as associate editor of International Journal of Analytical Chemistry.

Wilkins has received awards and honors throughout his career, including designation as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, and as a Fellow of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. Honors include the Lester Strock Award of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy in 1982, the Tolman Medal of the Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society in 1993, and the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award, in 1994. In 1996 he was awarded the Gold Medal Award of the New York Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy and in 1997 the American Chemical Society Franklin & Field Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mass Spectrometry. More recent honors include the 2002 Eastern Analytical Symposium Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Fields of Analytical Chemistry, the 2003 University of Arkansas Alumni Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Research, and in 2004 the University of Oregon Department of Chemistry Alumni Achievement Award, Distinguished Awardee in Pure Science. In 2009, the International Journal of Mass Spectrometry published a special issue in honor of Charles Wilkins.

About the American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry Award in Chemical Instrumentation

The Award in Chemical Instrumentation is given to someone who has advanced the field of chemical instrumentation through achievement of one or more of the following: conceptualization and development of unique instrumentation that has made a significant impact on the field; demonstration of innovative use of instrumentation in chemical measurement; stimulation of other researchers to use instrumentation in chemical measurement; and authorship of research papers or books that have had an influential role in the use of chemical instrumentation.

More about the SciX conference:

The traditional North American meeting of FACSS is now SciX - The Great Scientific Exchange. SciX covers the whole of analytical chemistry with an emphasis on emerging technologies. SciX carries on the FACSS tradition of a strong technical program (over 100 symposia), many prestigious awards, exhibits, a variety of workshops, an employment bureau and multiple social networking opportunities.

SciX is the National Meeting of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS) and the North American Society for Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (NASLIBS).

For more information about the SciX 2013 conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 29 to October 4, 2013, visit scixconference.org

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