[humbleservant]

Analytical Chemistry has to do with mainly quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis-- but isnt this something that other specializations of chemistry must do to in order to understand the basic structure of the compounds that they work with?

so essentially AChemistry lays the foundation down for the other fields of chemistry, and is the most utilized and useful in the chemical field, correct?

[enahs]

No. It does not matter how good you are at analytical chemistry, but you can not perform analytical chemistry on the newly synthesized drugs without somebody synthesizing them!

Nearly every professor who specializes in one field try to make it like their field is the most important, but truthfully they are all equally important and answer many different questions but the same.

[humbleservant]

No. It does not matter how good you are at analytical chemistry, but you can not perform analytical chemistry on the newly synthesized drugs without somebody synthesizing them!

Nearly every professor who specializes in one field try to make it like their field is the most important, but truthfully they are all equally important and answer many different questions but the same.

Forgive me if I made it sound like that I was trying to claim this field as superior to any other-- but do you not agree that analytical Chemistry shows itself over and over again to be of immense and even CENTRAL use to other chemistry fields?

P.S.-- my actual favorite chemistry discipline is Physical Chemistry-- but I am not against giving due where due should be given.

[Stepan]

Analytical chemistry, is only a tool used by other sciences. Quite important tool, but not more. A tool cannot be more important than the object it creates or measure.   

[enahs]

Exactly as Stepan said. Also, the vast majority of analytical Chemistry (including analytical chemistry books) is more geared toward quantification and determination of mixtures. Analytical chemistry is not usually considered determining the actual identity (NMR,IR, crystal structure, etc). That is to say analytical chemist typically do not do that but they can, typically it is the other fields of chemistry that does that.

It is true that without analytical chemistry we would not know all we know today; but without physical chemistry (and physics) we would never had a theory for the structure of the atom; and if there is no theory how could you even begin to use analytical chemistry defined as broadly as you want to test your theory?