Behaviour of various organic solvents and analytes in electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract

Factors affecting the determination of trace metal impurities in organic solvents using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry have been studied. The behaviour of Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni and Pb in various organic solvents (isobutyl methyl ketone, butyl acetate, toluene and xylene) was investigated. The influence of the nature of the solvent, complexing agent, atomizer type, chemical form and amount of chemical modifier used was evaluated. Optimum conditions with respect to the analyte, solvent and atomizer were established. A comparison of the sensitivities using organic and aqueous solutions is presented.