ELIMINATION OF HALOGEN ACID INTERFERENCES IN GRAPHITE-FURNACE ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY

Aerosol deposition of samples into a hot graphite furnace, reduces or eliminates interferences of halogen acids in the determination of many elements. The probable mechanism is hydrolysis of the analytes in the moment of impact of aerosol droplets with the hot graphite. When using manual deposition of discrete samples the hydrolysis occurs only to a small degree. As a result the analyte may be lost as its halide during the ashing phase.