Modern analytical chemistry is dominated by instrumental analysis. Many analytical chemists focus on a single type of instrument. Academics tend to either focus on new applications and discoveries or on new methods of analysis. The discovery of a chemical present in blood that increases the risk of cancer would be a discovery that an analytical chemist might be involved in. An effort to develop a new method might involve the use of a tunable laser to increase the specificity and sensitivity of a spectrometric method. Many methods, once developed, are kept purposely static so that data can be compared over long periods of time. This is particularly true in industrial quality assurance (QA), forensic and environmental applications. Analytical chemistry plays an increasingly important role in the pharmaceutical industry where, aside from QA, it is used in discovery of new drug candidates and in clinical applications where understanding the interactions between the drug and the patient are critical.

    現代分析化學以儀器分析為主。許多分析化學師專注于一種儀器。專業學者要么專注于新應用和新發現;要么專注于新分析方法。出現在血液中可增大癌癥風險的化學物質是化學分析師也許會遇到的一項發現。努力研發新方法時將會使用調諧激光器,以增大光譜法的特異性和靈敏度。新方法一但確立,會有意保持其不變,以便數據長期具有可比性。在工業質量保證(QA)、法醫及環境方面尤其如此。分析化學在醫藥工業中發揮著越來越重要的作用,除用于質量保證之外，不但用于發現新候選藥物,還用于臨床。臨床上,了解患者與藥物間的相互作用是非常必要的。