MPSC Assistant Chemical Analyser Syllabus — DFSL Group-B

MPSC Assistant Chemical Analyser Updated: 03 Sep 2026

Syllabus

MPSC's syllabus for Assistant Chemical Analyser, Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories (General State Services, Group-B, Home Department) is a topic list: 4 subject blocks with 17 lettered entries under them, every one reproduced on this page. It states no marks, no duration and no negative marking.

Open the Official Syllabus Page

The PDF opens on the official site. Every topic in it is explained in plain language below — you do not have to open the PDF to read the syllabus.

Compiled from the official syllabus · check it against the official link

What this MPSC document is, and what it settles ↑

The document Maharashtra Public Service Commission publishes for this post is short and very specific. It names the post, the establishment it sits in — the Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories — the service and group, General State Services, Group-B, and the controlling department, which is the Home Department. Then it does exactly one thing: across 2 pages it prints a single table with a Sr. No. column and a Topic column, and lists the subjects.

That framing matters more than it looks. This is a laboratory post inside the state's forensic science system, and all four subject blocks are analytical-techniques blocks: what an instrument measures, how a sample is prepared, and how a result is judged reliable. The document lists no general studies block, no language paper and no current affairs. Whatever the pattern for a particular recruitment turns out to be, this file is saying that the subject knowledge tested is analytical chemistry applied to forensic casework.

Field	What the document shows
Post	Assistant Chemical Analyser
Establishment	Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories
Service and group	General State Services, Group-B
Controlling department	Home Department
Where it is published	Maharashtra Public Service Commission's own website, mpsc.gov.in, on its examination syllabus listing
What the file contains	One table with a Sr. No. column and a Topic column, across 2 pages
Size of the syllabus	4 numbered topics, 17 lettered entries under them (our count — the document states no total)
Exam pattern	Not in this document: no marks, no duration, no question count, no negative marking, no qualifying percentage
Language of the file	English throughout — the copy we read carries no Marathi text
Date on the file	13 August 2026, which is the date on MPSC's syllabus listing for it and also the creation timestamp inside the PDF

The four subject blocks, in one view ↑

Here is the whole syllabus before the entries themselves. The middle column is MPSC's own topic wording, unchanged. The count in the right column is ours: the document numbers its topics but never counts the lettered entries under them, so we counted them from the file and label them as a derived figure rather than an official one.

The shape of the list is itself information. Analytical Chemistry sets the method vocabulary — sampling, calibration, statistics, titrimetry, gravimetry, separation — and the three blocks after it apply that vocabulary to inorganic samples, then organic samples, then biological samples. Biochemistry is the largest block, and it is the one that sits closest to daily forensic casework.

Sr. No.	Topic, in the document's own wording	Lettered entries under it (our count)
1	Analytical Chemistry	5, lettered a to e
2	Analytical Techniques in Inorganic Chemistry for Different Inorganic Samples	3, lettered a to c
3	Analytical Techniques in Organic Chemistry	3, lettered a to c
4	Analytical Techniques in Biochemistry	6, lettered a to f

This document sets no exam pattern, and we will not supply one ↑

Most people searching for a syllabus actually want the pattern: how many questions, how many marks, how long the paper is, whether there is negative marking. This file answers none of that. Saying so plainly is the only honest thing to do with it, because the alternative — a confident table of marks assembled from somewhere else and presented as the syllabus — is how a candidate ends up preparing for a paper that does not exist.

This file is published on MPSC's examination syllabus listing, separately from the advertisement that opens a recruitment, and it reads exactly like that: it fixes the scope of what may be asked, not the shape of the paper. Marks, duration, question count, negative marking, eligibility, age, fee, vacancies and dates belong to the advertisement for a particular recruitment. If a page quotes you a mark scheme for this post and cites the syllabus as its source, it is not citing this document.

What a candidate wants to know	Does this document answer it?
Which topics can be asked	Yes — all four topic blocks and every lettered entry under them, reproduced below
Total marks	No. The document states no marks at all
Duration of the paper	No
Number of questions	No
Negative marking	No. The words do not appear anywhere in the document
Qualifying or minimum percentage	No
Medium of the question paper	No
Eligibility, age, fee, vacancies, dates	No. Those belong to the advertisement, not to a syllabus file

At a glance

Conducting Body	Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC)
Post Name	Assistant Chemical Analyser
Department	Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories (DFSL), Home Department, Government of Maharashtra
Official Website	mpsc.gov.in
State	Maharashtra

Topic 1 — Analytical Chemistry, all five entries ↑

The document's first topic, entry by entry. The left column is MPSC's own wording, reproduced exactly, including its punctuation. The right column is our reading of what each entry asks and how to approach it.

This block is the method vocabulary for everything after it. Nothing in the three blocks that follow makes sense without the calibration, statistics and separation ideas set out here.

What the official syllabus lists	What it covers and how to prepare
Basic aspects - Sampling-solid, liquid and gas, molecular and equivalent weight, molarity, molality, normality, solution preparations in w/w, w/v and v/v, mole concept, concentrations, ppm, ppb and ppt etc. Calibration and validation- Calibration curve, regression analysis, external standard, internal standard, standard addition method etc.	Two things in one entry, and both are arithmetic you have to be able to do under time pressure. The first half is concentration: moving cleanly between molarity, molality and normality, knowing what w/w, w/v and v/v actually mean on a bottle label, and getting ppm, ppb and ppt out of the mole concept — trace work is quoted in exactly those units. The second half is calibration: a calibration curve with its regression line, and the difference between an external standard, an internal standard and the standard addition method. Standard addition is the one to be able to justify, because it is what you reach for when the sample matrix itself interferes.
Statistical treatment of the results - accuracy, precision, sensitivity, detection limit. Errors and their types, mean, median, standard deviation, relative standard deviation, Gaussian curve, t-test, F-test, confidence interval. Criteria for selection of analytical methods- Accuracy, precision, sensitivity, selectivity, specificity, detection limit.	The entry that quietly separates a laboratory candidate from a textbook one. Accuracy and precision are not synonyms, and the difference is examinable; so is the gap between standard deviation and relative standard deviation, and what a t-test and an F-test are each for — t for comparing means, F for comparing variances. Notice that detection limit appears twice in this entry, once as a statistic and once as a criterion for choosing a method. That repetition is the document's own hint: you should be able to argue why a method is fit for a sample, not merely name it.
Titrimetry - Different types of titrations such as acid-base, complexometric, redox, precipitation, etc. different standards used for standardisation such as primary standard and secondary standard. Potentiometric and conductometric titration and their applications.	Classical wet chemistry, and it still carries weight because a forensic laboratory still runs it. Be able to place any titration into one of the four families named here — acid-base, complexometric, redox, precipitation — and to say what signals the end point in each. The primary-versus-secondary standard distinction is the standing short question: a primary standard is pure and stable enough to be weighed out directly, a secondary standard has to be standardised against one. Potentiometric and conductometric titrations are the electrode-based end point, and their usefulness is exactly where a colour indicator fails: coloured, turbid or very dilute samples.
Gravimetric and thermogravimetric analysis - Precipitation, different types of precipitants used in gravimetric analysis. pH requirement for precipitation. Quantitative analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis-Mass spectrometry for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Problems.	Gravimetry is measurement by weighing, so this entry is really about making the precipitate you weigh trustworthy — which precipitant, at which pH, and why the wrong pH costs you either an incomplete precipitation or a co-precipitated impurity. Thermogravimetric analysis then measures mass against temperature. Two details worth noticing: the document attaches mass spectrometry to this entry for both qualitative and quantitative analysis, and the entry ends on the single word Problems. It is asking for calculation, not description.
Separation techniques - Extraction, different distillation methods such as vacuum distillation, steam distillation, fractional distillation etc. Purification and identification of substances.	The bench skills of sample preparation, and each named method exists for a reason. Vacuum distillation is for compounds that decompose before they boil; steam distillation is for volatile compounds immiscible with water, the classical route for essential oils and for several poisons; fractional distillation is for mixtures whose boiling points sit close together. Extraction sits alongside them as the workhorse. The entry closes on purification and identification of substances, which is the point of this whole block — a result is only as good as the isolate it was measured on.

Topic 2 — Analytical Techniques in Inorganic Chemistry, all three entries ↑

The document's full topic name here is Analytical Techniques in Inorganic Chemistry for Different Inorganic Samples, and the last four words are the instruction: every entry is tied to a sample type rather than to a theory.

What the official syllabus lists	What it covers and how to prepare
Spectroscopy and chromatography for inorganic sample analysis - Atomic absorption, atomic emission, and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission and Mass spectrometry (ICP-AES and ICP-MS). UV-Visible spectroscopy with qualitative and quantitative analysis, Jobs Method. Applications. Ion exchange chromatography- Analysis of various inorganic cations and anions.	The elemental-analysis entry. Atomic absorption and atomic emission are two ways of using the same atomic transition, one measuring the light absorbed and the other the light emitted; ICP-AES and ICP-MS are the plasma-source versions of the idea, with ICP-MS the one that reaches trace and ultra-trace levels. Job's method — printed in the document as Jobs Method — is the continuous-variation method for finding the stoichiometry of a complex, and it is the standard UV-Visible calculation to have ready. Ion exchange chromatography closes the entry with the analysis of inorganic cations and anions, which in casework means water, soil and residue samples.
Microscopy for inorganic sample analysis - Trace and heavy metal, glass, soil, and liquid samples analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)	Learn this one as image plus elemental fingerprint. Scanning electron microscopy gives the picture at high magnification; the energy dispersive spectroscopy detector attached to it gives the elemental composition of the exact spot being looked at. That pairing is why SEM with EDS is the technique of choice for particles — gunshot residue, glass and paint fragments, heavy-metal traces. The document names four sample types here: trace and heavy metal, glass, soil, and liquid samples. Be ready to say what each one contributes to an identification.
Electroanalytical techniques- Coulometry and its types, amperometry, voltammetry, cyclic voltammetry, stripping voltammetry, polarography,	The organising idea for the whole entry is what is held constant and what is measured. Coulometry counts charge and gives amount of substance directly through Faraday's law. Amperometry measures current at a fixed potential. Voltammetry sweeps the potential and reads the current — which is why cyclic voltammetry tells you about reversibility, and why stripping voltammetry, a preconcentration step followed by a sweep, reaches trace metal levels. Note that this entry is printed ending in a comma, so read polarography as the last named example rather than as the end of the subject.

Topic 3 — Analytical Techniques in Organic Chemistry, all three entries ↑

Three entries, but they are unevenly sized. The separation-techniques entry alone runs from TLC through to solid phase extraction, naming a chromatographic method at almost every step, and it is the single largest item in the whole syllabus.

What the official syllabus lists	What it covers and how to prepare
Spectroscopy - Theory and application of UV Visible, IR(FTIR), Raman, NMR, Mass spectrometry, Interpretation of spectra, Structure Elucidation	Structure elucidation is the destination and these techniques are the road to it, each answering a different question: UV-Visible for conjugation, IR and Raman for functional groups, NMR for the carbon-hydrogen skeleton, mass spectrometry for molecular mass and fragmentation. IR and Raman are complementary rather than interchangeable — the vibrations that show weakly in one often show strongly in the other. The examinable skill is joint interpretation: given a set of spectra, produce the one structure that satisfies all of them. Practise on the compound classes this post actually meets rather than on arbitrary molecules.
Separation techniques – Theory and application in chemical analysis of TLC, HPTLC, GC, GCMS, LCMS, HRMS, column chromatography, paper chromatography. HPLC- Ion exchange chromatography, Adsorption chromatography, Normal and Reverse phase chromatography, solid phase extraction,	The longest technique list in the document, and it rewards one comparison table rather than eight separate sets of notes: stationary phase, mobile phase, what is detected, which sample it suits. TLC and HPTLC are the screening step. GC is for volatiles, and GC-MS is the confirmatory pairing that returns a retention time and a mass spectrum together. LC-MS takes the compounds that are too polar or too fragile to survive a GC inlet; HRMS gives exact mass and therefore molecular formula. In the HPLC half, be able to tell normal phase from reverse phase by which of the two phases is the polar one, and place ion exchange, adsorption and solid phase extraction as the clean-up that happens before the run. This entry too is printed ending in a comma.
Organic analysis - Pharmaceutical and Narcotic drugs psychotropic substances, alcohol estimation, petroleum products, paints and dyes, rubber, plastic, fibres, organic poisons such as insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, etc.	This is the casework entry, and it lists sample types rather than techniques — which is the hint about how to revise it. For every item named here, be able to say what is analysed, by which technique from the entries above, and what a positive result actually means: narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, alcohol estimation, petroleum products, paints and dyes, rubber, plastic and fibres, and organic poisons including insecticides, pesticides and herbicides. The entry closes with etc., which is the document telling you the list is illustrative rather than closed.

Topic 4 — Analytical Techniques in Biochemistry, all six entries ↑

The largest block in the document, and the one that reads least like a chemistry syllabus and most like a forensic laboratory's work list — DNA, immunoassay, electrophoresis, and the examination of blood and body fluids.

One entry in this block carries a printing problem in the official file. We have flagged it in the right-hand column rather than silently correcting the left, because the left column is what MPSC published.

What the official syllabus lists	What it covers and how to prepare
Biomolecules - Structure, functions and estimation of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids and biological buffers.	Structure, functions and — the word that decides the answer — estimation. For carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, know the classical estimation method as well as the molecule itself: which assay, what it actually measures, and what interferes with it. Biological buffers are in the same entry for a practical reason. Almost every biochemical estimation is run at a fixed pH, so choosing the buffer is part of designing the assay, not a footnote to it.
Molecular biology - DNA isolation, DNA quantification, PCR, RT-PCR, RFLP (Restriction Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction), ELISA, RIA (Radio Immuno Assay), Antigen -Antibody reactions.	DNA work from start to finish: isolation, quantification, amplification and detection. You should be able to separate PCR from RT-PCR in one sentence each, and ELISA from RIA in one more — both are immunoassays, one enzyme-labelled and one radiolabelled — with antigen-antibody reactions as the principle underneath them. One caution about the document itself, and it is our note rather than its: this entry expands RFLP as Restriction Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction. That expansion belongs to RT-PCR. RFLP is standardly Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism. We reproduce the entry exactly as printed and flag the expansion so that nobody learns it from us.
Separation techniques- SDS-PAGE, One dimension (PAGE) and two dimension electrophoresis, Isoelectric focusing, Gel filtration Chromatography, Affinity chromatography, High voltage electrophoresis, Agarose electrophoresis, Capillary electrophoresis.	One family, best sorted by what is separated and by what force. SDS-PAGE separates proteins by size, because the detergent gives every chain effectively the same charge-to-mass ratio. Isoelectric focusing separates by isoelectric point instead. Two-dimensional electrophoresis is those two run in series, which is why it resolves what either alone cannot. Gel filtration separates by size with no field at all, affinity chromatography by a specific binding partner. Agarose is the DNA gel, high voltage electrophoresis the faster classical form, and capillary electrophoresis the high-resolution, small-volume form that modern DNA profiling runs on.
Isotope tracer technique: Basic concepts, Principles, advantages, limitations, and applications in biochemistry.	A compact entry, and the document hands you its shape: concepts, principles, advantages, limitations, applications. That is a written-answer skeleton, so prepare it as one. The advantages are sensitivity and the ability to follow one labelled atom through a pathway; the limitations are handling, safety, licensing and waste disposal, and an answer that names them reads as laboratory experience rather than recall.
Enzymes- Enzyme classification, Isoenzymes, DNA polymerase, Enzyme kinetics (basic)	Classification, isoenzymes, DNA polymerase and kinetics. The document's own word basic sets the depth for the kinetics: Michaelis-Menten, what Km and Vmax mean, and how the common inhibition types move them. Isoenzymes deserve a line of their own — the same reaction catalysed by different molecular forms, which is what makes them useful markers. DNA polymerase is singled out here because it is the enzyme the amplification in the previous entry runs on.
Blood and other body fluids and hair examinations for humans and animals - Blood group system, Semen examination, Saliva, Urine, Hair, Sweat, Biological stains and preservations.	The classical serology entry, and the one that is unmistakably a forensic laboratory's work rather than a chemistry department's. Blood group systems, and the examination of semen, saliva, urine, hair and sweat — for humans and for animals, and the species question is written into the entry, so do not skip it. The entry ends on biological stains and preservations, which in practice is the first thing that happens to an exhibit and the thing that decides whether any of the analysis above is worth running at all.

How to work through a list built like this one ↑

The syllabus is organised by technique, not by textbook chapter, and revising it chapter-wise is the commonest way to waste time on it. The same handful of methods reappears in all four blocks wearing different clothes: chromatography turns up as ion exchange for inorganic ions, as TLC, GC and HPLC for organics, and as gel filtration and affinity chromatography for biomolecules. Learn each method once — principle, what it separates or measures, what it cannot do — and then file the sample types underneath it.

Build one table and keep it to a single page: technique, principle, what it measures, the sample it suits, its limitation. Every entry in this syllabus reduces to a row in that table, and the entries the document writes out in most detail are the ones that deserve the most rows.

Two things the document tells you if you read its punctuation. Several entries carry the word etc., and two of them end on a bare comma, which means those lists are illustrative rather than closed — expect one step beyond the named examples. And the statistics entry sits at the very top of the syllabus, ahead of every instrument. In a laboratory post, being able to say why a result is reliable is treated as coming before being able to produce it.

Not covered in this document — and where to find it ↑

A syllabus file defines scope. It does not answer every question a candidate has, and the honest thing is to name the gaps rather than fill them with a confident guess.

For each of the following, MPSC's own website is the only source worth trusting. Everything below is absent from this document, not hidden somewhere in it.

The exam pattern. Marks, duration, number of questions, negative marking and any qualifying percentage are not in this file; they are set by the advertisement for the particular recruitment.
Eligibility. Educational qualification, age limit, experience and domicile requirements are not stated here.
Vacancies and reservation. The document carries no vacancy count and no category-wise break-up.
Application fee and how to apply. Not in this file.
Dates. There is no exam date, no application window and no timetable in this document.
Cut-off and result. Published by MPSC after the examination, and never predictable in advance from a syllabus.
A Marathi version. The copy we read is English throughout; if MPSC publishes a Marathi version of this syllabus it will sit on the same listing.
Books. A syllabus is a topic list, not a reading list — the document prescribes no text.
MPSC examination syllabus listing, the page that carries this file: https://mpsc.gov.in/examination_syllabus/18
MPSC home: https://mpsc.gov.in
One practical warning from our own check on 2 September 2026: the short mpsc.gov.in/downloadFile/ style links that circulate for MPSC syllabi did not open the file for us — the site returned its app shell and then a page-does-not-exist message. Reach the PDF from the syllabus listing page above and open the row for this post.

Important Links

Open official website dfsl.maharashtra.gov.in

FAQ — Your Questions, Answered

Which body conducts this exam?

Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC)

Which post is this for?

Assistant Chemical Analyser

Which department is this recruitment for?

Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories (DFSL), Home Department, Government of Maharashtra

What is the official website for this recruitment?

mpsc.gov.in

Official source: Official website ↗. Always confirm on the official website before acting on it.