Latest News (June 2026)

MarChemSpec Paper Wins a Prize!

Co-authors Frank Bastkowski and Beatrice Sander of the National Metrology Institute of Germany (PTB), and Simon Clegg of the University of East Anglia, were recently awarded “Best paper of 2025” by  CITAC (Cooperation on International Traceability in Analytical Chemistry).

The title of the paper is: Activity Coefficients of HCl in Solutions Related to “Tris” Buffers in Artificial Seawater. III. Tris Buffer + NaCl + H2O, from 0.2 to 3.25 mol kg-1 Ionic Strength and from 5 to 45 °C, J. Chem. Eng. Data 71, 33-45 (2026), doi.org/10.1021/acs.jced.5c00450

The work contributes to the body of thermodynamic data we are accumulating for components of the Tris buffer solutions used to calibrate seawater ‘total’ pH measurements. These data are needed to extend the scale and improve metrological traceability and therefore accuracy. They also underpin our current studies into pressure effects on buffer pH and the ability to measure seawater pH at in situ pressures in the oceans.

The picture shows author Simon Clegg receiving the award certificate on behalf of all three co-authors from CITAC Chair Zoltan Mester of the National Research Council of Canada.

An article in the CITAC newsletter for 2026 (see page 61) describes why our award winning study is important for the measurement of seawater pH. It is Part III of a continuing series by the scientists at PTB and also with Igor Maksimov and colleagues at the National Metrology Institute of Japan. The MarChemSpec group is very pleased to acknowledge these essential contributions from both institutes and the encouragement of CITAC and the BIPM (International Bureau of Weights and Measures) for our work.

Measurements are continuing at the two national metrology institutes this year. We anticipate that the next publication in our data series will be of osmotic coefficients of aqueous solutions of Tris and TrisHCl (the hydrogen chloride salt of Tris) with colleagues in the Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology at the University of Belgrade.

The CITAC initiative aims to foster collaboration between existing organisations to improve the international comparability of chemical measurements. CITAC develops new guidelines in the field of metrology in chemistry in cooperation with international sister organizations such as Eurachem and IUPAC. Recent publications of CITAC include the EURACHEM /CITAC Guide: Evaluation of measurement uncertainty from in-house precision and recovery data, 1st Edn., edited by Ricardo Bettencourt da Silva, Eurachem, 2026.