Solvent extraction of trace metals

Further details of specific extraction systems will be given in the later application chapters. 

This topic will be treated fairly generally because the authors of the subsequent application chapters will be describing more specific examples. 

The newcomer to AAS could easily be led into believing that he has been misled when informed that this analytical technique is free from interferences. This impression unfortunately arises from early work in the technique when, of course, only a few applications had been studied. With the increase of interest, a wider range of applications was studied and consequently more problems were encountered. However, the interferences encountered in atomic absorption spectrometry are now extremely well documented and many which were reported early in the literature were found to be due to instrumental imperfections and have now virtually disappeared. All interferences can be overcome by the use of simple techniques. 

Interferences encountered in AAS can be separated into the following categories (A) Spectral. (B) Flame emission. (C) Chemical. (D) Matrix. (E) Non-specific scatter. (F) Ionisation. The majority of difficulties that the analyst can expect to encounter arise from chemical, matrix, light-scattering and ionisation interferences. 

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