Book excerpt: This book documents the proceedings of the symposium "Fundamentals and Applications of Anion Separations" held during American Chemical Society National Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, August 25-30, 200I. Nearly 40 papers devoted to discussions on anion separation related to fundamental research and applications were presented. The symposium, sponsored by Osram Sylvania, BetzDearbom, and the Separation Science & Technology Subdivision of the Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society was organized by Bruce A. Moyer, Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Building. 4500S, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6119, and Raj P. Singh, Chemicals and Powders R&D, Osram Sylvania, Chemical and Metallurgical Products Division, Towanda, PA 18848. It drew presenters from Australia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Separations constitute an integral part of chemical industry. Chemical products typically originate in resources that must be concentrated and purified, chemically transformed, and subjected to fmal purification. Effluent streams from the processes must be treated to recycle reusable components and to remove environmentally harmful species. Some industrial processes are devoted to environmental cleanup after pollution has occurred. In addition, many analytical methods require a separation for preconcentration, or a separation may be an inherent part of the analysis itself. Micro separations occurring at membranes or interfaces are also related phenomena employed for ion sensing. Many species targeted for separation are naturally anionic. Although the standard separations techniques ofextraction, ion exchange, adsorption, precipitation, etc.