Application of the ligand vapour technique to the volatilization of unstable chelate compounds (particularly iron(III) trifluoroacetylacetonate) in AAS

Summary This paper describes a method for volatilizing chelate complexes in AAS using a carrier gas containing ligand vapour in order to prevent chelate decomposition on heating. The method is evaluated with iron(III) trifluoroacetylacetonate. The sample containing chelate is injected into an electrically heated system, and is carried by nitrogen gas containing trifluoroacetylacetone H(TFA) to a silica tube where atomization occurs. This system increases the reproducibility of atomic absorption signals and decreases the high blanks which occur with the conventional method as a result of chelate decomposition. The characteristic mass of the combined analytical procedure is 1.30 ng Fe, the detection limit 12.0 ng Fe, and the relative standard deviation is 4.7% ng Fe (n=10). Sensitivity is improved 16-fold with respect to the system involving conventional nebulization and atomization of aqueous solutions in air-acetylene flame.