Use of flow injection for in-line elimination of interferences in hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry

The versatility of flow injection as a sample manipulation technique is demonstrated in the automatic handling of certain interferences. Methods are presented for the in-line addition of interferent suppressors and the in-line removal of interferents using ion-exchange separation. This methodology is demonstrated in: (i) the addition of potassium iodide to reduce the analyte to a common oxidation state prior to hydride formation, for the determination of arsenic and antimony; (ii) the in-line addition of tellurium to increase the tolerance to the interference of certain noble metals; and (iii) the in-line separation of the interference of certain base metals using ion-exchange separation.