Determination of Chloride by Flame molecular Absorption Spectrometry with Continuum Source and Self-Reversal Background Correction

The use of continuum source and self-reversal background correction were investigated for flame molecular absorption spectrometry (MAS). Chloride was determined by MAS using the aluminum monochloride molecule in a conventional flame atomic absorption spectrometer. Absorbance of this molecule was monitored in a lean nitrous oxide/acetylene flame at 261.4 nm using a lead hollow cathode lamp as the excitation source. Characteristic masses of 210, 260, and 820 mg/L were observed for no background correction, continuum source correction, and self-reversal correction, respectively. The ability of the techniques to correct for interferences caused by high concentrations of fluoride and sodium was investigated. The self-reversal technique was shown to remove interferences at concentration levels up to 10,000 mg/L. Chloride was determined in chloroacetic acid using calibration with chloride standards; continuum source correction had the best recovery value. These results suggest that both correction methods should be investigated for practical applications of flame MAS to obtain optimum analytical performance.