Applications of atomic absorption

The next set of experiments describe suitable applications of atomic absorption spectroscopy. 

In the present work, emphasis is placed on summarizing recent applications of atomic absorption spectroscopy for the analysis of biological and medicinal materials. Reports prior to mid 1967 are discussed in detail elsewhere 2 3)... 

The principles and applications of atomic absorption spectroscopy to clinical and biological analysis have been reviewed by several authors 279-286) and automation in the analysis has been reviewed 28 ). 

An interesting application of atomic absorption spectroscopy is the indirect determination of nonmetals. Christian and Feldman 191 have described the various indirect methods that can be used. Methods have been described for the determination of several nonmetals in biological samples. 

Potter and co-workers 301) determined reducing sugars in plant materials by reducing copper(II) in alkaline solution to insoluble cuprous oxide and then measuring the excess copper in the filtrate. Mitschell248) conducted further studies on this method. Christian and Feldman 19) have described general procedures for the indirect determination of glucose and of protein. It is anticipated that in the future, we will see many more applications of atomic absorption spectroscopy to the indirect determination of nonmetals. 

Various workers have discussed the application of atomic absorption spectrometry to the determination of selenium in rocks [159,160] achieving detection limits of 0.06g g-1 [159] and 1.4xl0 10g g-1 [160] respectively. Hydride generation and measurement of hydride fluorescence has been used to determine selenium [120, 161] with a sensitivity of 0.06ug Se mL 1 which is 5-30 times than is achieved by conventional atomic absorption spectrometry. 

Numerous [34, 36, 41-46, 49, 60-65] workers have discussed the application of atomic absorption spectrometry to the determination of organomercury compounds in river and lake sediments. Methods [41-44]... 

Applications of Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy in Pharmaceutical Analysis... 

APPLICATION OF ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY IN PHARMACEUTICAL ANALYSIS... 

Rains TC, Watters RL Jr, Epstein MS. 1984. Application of atomic absorption and plasma emission spectrometry for environmental analysis. Environment International 10 163-168. 

The wide application of atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) in the determination of various metallic elements in diverse media is based primarily on the following factors (a) in most cases AAS has sufficient sensitivity for precise determination of the metallic elements (b) AAS is relatively free from interference (c) the required investment for establishing AAS capabilities is small and (d) the cost per analysis is usually low in comparison with other techniques. The determination of the concentration of metals in the air of workplace environments is achieved by AAS analysis of particulates that have been collected by filtering the air of workplace environments with the exposed filter dissolved in acid. 

A. Walsh, The application of atomic absorption spectra to chemical analysis, Spectro-chim. Acta, 7 (1955), 108-117. 

C. L. Chakrabarti, K. S. Subramanian and T. Nakahara, The Application of Atomic Absorption Spectrometry to the Analysis of Trace Metals in Non-biological Marine Samples, Rep. 6 (NRCC No. 17530), National Research Council Canada, 1978. 

Application of atomic absorption spectrometry to the analysis of foodstuffs... 

A. Literature on applications of atomic absorption spectrometry to food analysis... 

Applications of atomic absorption spectrometry in ferrous metallurgy... 

The industrial application of atomic absorption for routine analysis can be divided into four areas ... 

Another application of atomic absorption is in the determination of concentrations on steel surfaces after special sample preparation, and the analysis of steel residues (purity tests) after isolation and possible selective dissolution of the iron matrix [18, 124, 139] (Fig. 1). Atomic absorption is particularly useful for environmental analysis where dust samples can be analysed in a similar manner to steel residues water and effluents are the main examples. 

Price [67] has reviewed the application of atomic absorption to a variety of plating solutions. Iron, lead and zinc are reported as the main impurities in cyanide copper-plating baths which may contain up to 200gl 1 of copper sulphate a twenty-fold dilution of the sample for trace determination is recommended. Nickel baths may contain 60 gl 1 of nickel and it may be necessary to monitor copper, zinc, iron, lead, chromium, calcium and magnesium at the ppm level. The standard addition method is probably best for such an application. Zinc has been extracted with trioctylamine-hydrochloride when present in the range 0.03—10pgml-1 in a nickel plating solution [68]. The zinc was re-extracted back into 1M nitric acid for... 

G. F. Wallace, The Application of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry to the Analysis of Pulp and Paper Products, Print. Reprogr./Test. Conf. (Pap.)., 1977, p. 169. 

Atomic absorption sample preparation procedures applied to archaeological samples can be streamlined. Important factors include sample preparation, sample size, sample decomposition, standards, instrumentation, and practical and conceptual applications of atomic absorption analysis. On a comparative basis the sample preparation procedure reported was convenient and rapid the AAS instrumentation proved to be flexible, sensitive, rapid, and inexpensive in the analysis of archaeological materials. 

T he theory, technique, and applications of atomic absorption spectros-copy (AAS) are well known to chemists and are described extensively in the literature, which is estimated at nearly 1,000 papers a year. Excellent sources of information are the Annual Review issues (April) of Analytical Chemistry and the Annual Reports on Analytical Atomic Absorption from the Society for Analytical Chemistry, London. Several pertinent references are listed by Hughes et al. (1). Some books found generally useful are listed in the bibliography (2, 3,4). 

The application of atomic absorption spectrometry to quantitative analysis is illustrated in Figure 2.2. The incident radiation at resonance wavelength with intensity /q is focused on the flame containing the atoms in their fundamental state and is transmitted with a reduced intensity I determined by the concentration of the atoms in the flame. The radiation is directed to the detector where the intensity is measured. The quantity of absorbed light is determined by comparing / to /q. 

One decade ago the term atomic absorption spectroscopy was familiar to only a small group of scientists, to a few chemists working on special problems, and to astrophysicists. Within the last few years, however, this analytical tedinique has found enthusiastic acceptance by science and industry. Several hundred papers have been published in a short time on basic research, instrumentation, development of methods, and practical application of atomic absorption spectroscopy. Several good reviews of the subject stressing various aspects have appeared (A13, D6, E2, G6, L3, L8, M6, M7, R2, R5, W15), and it seems hardly necessary to add to their number. The problems of medical laboratories and clinical... 

Although the flame appears to represent the most versatile means to vaporize a sample, it is limited to materials dissolved in a liquid that can be aspirated. Furthermore, some elements fail to produce effective vapors in ordinary flames. Several other methods of vaporization have been described, which are applicable to samples in the solid state and to elements not amenable to measurement in the flame. A short note on the application of atomic absorption to solids has been published (SI) but no details are given. 

In the following subsections the application of atomic absorption spectroscopy to the determination of the more important elements of biological and clinical interest is presented, and special problems and interferences encountered with individual elements are discussed in detail. The resonance lines given at the beginning of each subsection are those showing greatest absorption, although many elements possess several resonance lines that can be used in analysis. The sensitivity limits quoted are the lowest reported in the literature, usually defined as that concentration of the test element in aqueous solution which produces 1% absorption. The reproducibility of results by most atomic absorption techniques lies... 

Berman (B4) reported the clinical application of atomic absorption spectroscopy in the determination of copper in blood, urine, and tissues. After acid digestion of the samples, copper was complexed with EDTA and diethylthiocarbamate and extracted into a ketone. Copper levels in blood and urine from normal persons were compared to those found in patients with neurological disorders. 

Only a few reports have appeared up to the present time on the application of atomic absorption spectroscopy to the determination of manganese in biological materials. Allan (A7) analyzed plants after wet-ashing with nitric and perchloric acids, and a similar project including a study of interferences was carried out by David (D9). A manganese recovery experiment from human plasma is reported by Manning (M2a). 

A14. Andrew, T. R., and Nichols, P. N. R., The application of atomic absorption to the rapid determination of magnesium in electronic nickel and nickel alloys. Analyst 87, 25-31 (1962). 

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