Determination of lead in gasoline by a flow-injection technique with atomic absorption spectrometric detection

The gasoline sample is treated with iodine and Aliquat-336 and diluted with 4-methylpentan-2-one; 100 μl is injected into a flowing acetone stream for aspiration into an atomic absorption spectrometer. Calibration is linear in the range 0/2-16 mg l^?1 lead. Results for commercial gasoline samples agree well with those obtained by published titrimetric and atomic absorption methods. The precision for samples containing 300/2-400 mg l^?1 lead is ±1%; with increased recorder amplification, the limit of detection is 0.1 mg l^?1 lead. The method is rapid and economic.