Gas chromatography-atomic absorption spectrometry

The combination of flame AAS and gas chromatography represents probably the first example of a hyphenated technique used for speciation analysis [30]. It is particularly favorable since the analytes arrive at the detector already in the gaseous state. Interfacing is straightforward, and in most cases a simple heated transfer line is used to direct the analytes to the atomiser. However, despite its apparent simplicity, the design of such a transfer line is critical since peak broadening due to dead volumes, cold spots, or lack of chemical inertness have to be avoided. 

The hyphenation of flame-AAS and GC is easy to achieve, however, it does not provide adequate sensitivity for most problems of environmental relevance. 

Graphite furnace AAS would provide trace level sensitivity, however, GF-AAS instruments are not designed for continuous operation. This prevents their use as on-line detectors for continuous chromatographic separation. 

For organometalhc species, the decomposition of a molecule takes place via a series of electrophihc and nucleophilic reactions of the alkylated (or otherwise organically substituted) molecule with the hydroxyl and hydrogen radicals. For the example of an alkylated triorganotin compound, atomisation can be described by the following reaction sequence  

The lifetime of the quartz tube atomiser is variable and can range up to several months. New tubes initially perform poorly and must be conditioned by several runs before achieving optimum sensitivity. Contamination of the quartz surface may result in significant signal suppression. As the electrothermal quartz furnace atomiser is comparatively robust and offers high overall efficiency and sensitivity at relatively low cost, it has found widespread application for the analysis of organo-metallic species of the elements Sn, Se, As, Sb, Pb, and Hg. 

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Chakraborti D, DeJonghe WRA, Mol WE, et al. 1984. Determination of ionic alkyllead compounds in water by gas chromatography/atomic absorption spectrometry. Anal Chem 56 2692-2697. 

Spectrophotometric methods Gas chromatography Atomic absorption spectrometry Miscellaneous... 

Hewitt, C.N. and Harrison, R.M. (1985) A sensitive, specific method for the determination of tetraalkyllead compounds in air by gas chromatography/atomic absorption spectrometry. Anal. Chim. Actarom., 167, 277-287. 

Dirkx, W.M.R. and Adams, F.C. (1992) Speciation of organotin compounds in water and sediments by gas chromatography/atomic absorption spectrometry (GC-AAS). Mikrochim. Acta, 109, 79. 

Chau, Y.K., Zhang, S. and Maguire, R.J. (1992) Determination of butyltin species in sewage and sludge by gas chromatography-atomic absorption spectrometry. Analyst, 117, 1161-1164. 

Bergmann, K. and B. Neidhart. 2001. In situ propylation of ionic organotin and organolead species in water samples—extraction and determination of the resulting tetraorganometallic compounds by gas chromatography-atomic absorption spectrometry. J. Sep. Sci. 24 221-225. 

Salih, B. Speciation of inorganic and organolead compounds by gas chromatography-atomic absorption spectrometry and the determination of lead species after pre-concentration onto diphenylthiocarbazone-anchored polymeric microbeads. Spectrochim. Acta B 55, 1117-1127 (2000)... 

Wolf, W. R. Coupled gas-chromatography-atomic absorption spectrometry for the nanogram determination of chromium. AnaL Chem. 48, 1717 (1976)... 

The between bottle homogeneity was verified by the determination of TBT on intakes of 2 g. The technique used for this study was hydride generation/cold trapping-gas chromatography/atomic absorption spectrometry. No significant differences were observed between the CV of the method (8.7 2.8%) and the CV within-bottles (8.2 1.8%). The CV between-bottles appeared to be significantly higher than the CV within-bottles (18.3 2.9%) however, the value found corresponded to determinations... 

Cai Y, Rapsomanikis S, Andreae MO (1993) Determination of butyltin compounds in sediment using gas chromatography - atomic absorption spectrometry comparison of sodium tetrahydroborate and sodium tetraethylborate derivatization methods. Anal Chim Acta 274, 243-251. 

Coe M, Cruz R, Van Loon JC. 1980. Determination of methylcyclopentadienyl manganese-tricarbonyl by gas chromatography-atomic absorption spectrometry at ng m levels in air samples. Anal Chim Acta 120 171-176. 

Norin H, Christakopoulos A (1982) Evidence for the presence of arsenobetaine and other organoarsenicals in shrimps. Chemosphere 11 287-298 Norin H, Ryhage R, Christakopoulos A, Sandstrom (1983) New evidence for the presence of arsenobetaine in shrimps (Pandalus borealis) by use of pyrolysis gas chromatography-atomic absorption spectrometry/mass spectromety. Chemosphere 12 299-315... 

Coker reported a gas chromatography/atomic absorption spectrometry technique for alkylleads in which he could analyze a sample in 5 min with a detection limit of 0.2 ppm lead, a value, he points out suitable for determining trace lead in unleaded gasoline. Alkyl-lead has recently been determined in the atmosphere with a GC-micro-wave plasma detector by Reamer et al. ... 

Chan, L., The Determination of Tetraalkyl Lead Compounds in Petrol Using Combined Gas Chromatography—Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, Forensic Sci. Intern. 18 [1981] 57/62. 

Chau, Y. K., Wong, P. T. S., Kramar, O., The Determination of Dialkyllead, Trialkyllead, Tetraalkyllead and Lead(ll) Ions in Water by Chelation/Extraction and Gas Chromatography/Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, Anal. Chim. Acta 146 [1983] 211/7. 

Hewitt, C. N., Harrison, R. M., A Sensitive, Specific Method for the Determination of Tetra-alkyllead Compounds in Air by Gas Chromatography/Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, Anal. Chim. Acta 167 [1985] 277/87. 

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