Analytical Sciences

Development of Gas-Phase Sample-Introduction Techniques for Analytical Atomic Spectrometry

Taketoshi NAKAHARA

Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan

For the last 30 years, several types of gas-phase sample-introduction methods in analytical atomic spectrometry, i.e., atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), atomic emission spectrometry (AES) and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS), have been investigated and developed in the author’s laboratory. Their fundamental results are summarized in this review article. The gas-phase sample-introduction techniques developed in the author’s laboratory can be roughly divided into four groups: i) hydride generation, ii) cold-vapor generation of mercury, iii) analyte volatilization reactions and iv) miscellaneous. The analytical figures of merit of the gas-phase sample-introduction methods have been described in detail. Hydride generation has been coupled with the AAS of As, Bi, Ge, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn and Te, with the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) AES of As, Bi, Sn, Se and Sb, with the high-power nitrogen microwave-induced plasma (N₂-MIP) AES of As, Bi, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn and Te by their single- and multi-element determinations, with the AFS of As, Bi, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn and Te, and with the ICP mass spectrometry (MS) of As and Se. The cold-vapor generation method for Hg has been combined with atmospheric-pressure helium microwave-induced plasma (He- or Ar-MIP)-AES and AFS. Furthermore, analyte volatilization reactions have been employed in the ICP-AES of iodine, in the He-MIP-AES of iodine bromine, chlorine, sulfur and carbon, and in the ICP-MS of sulfur. As a result, when compared with conventional solution nebulization, a great improvement in the sensitivity has been attained in each instance. In addition, the developed techniques coupled with analytical atomic spectrometry have been successfully applied to the determination of trace elements in a variety of practical samples.

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