Resolution of chemical species in flow injection analysis by using self-modeling curve resolution

Mixtures can be resolved into their components by separation, spectrometric and kinetic (chemical) procedures, which have varying degrees of efficiency. Chemometric methods of data processing have proved useful for increasing resolution, especially in spectral and chromatographic procedures. This study shows that chemometric methods are also useful for kinetic flow-injection methods based on chemical reactions combined with multichannel spectral detection, where neither the reaction nor the detector provides adequate resolution. The problem of background absorbance of a sample in a flow-injection system with an ultraviolet/visible photodiode array detector is solved by applying a self-modeling curve resolution method. The example used is a mixture of methyl violet and phenolphthalein.