Chemical vapor generation by coupling high-pressure liquid flow injection to high-resolution continuum source hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry for determination of arsenic

Abstract A coupled system for the online detection of total arsenic is presented consisting of a flow injection system (high pressure liquid (HPL) pump, injection loop of 250 μL) and high-resolution continuum source hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HR-CS-HG-AAS). The system enables the continuous detection of volatile arsenic compounds and is adaptable for a wide range of elements. The analytical method was applied for the determination of total arsenic content in human urine. The limit of detection (LOD) with 0.09 μg/L (peak height) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) with 0.37 μg/L are comparable to standard methods. In this work, possibilities of arsenic determination with FI–HR-CS–HG–AAS have been explored. The online-coupling of a flow injection system with HR-CS–HG–AAS as an element-specific detector is a novel method for the detection and quantitative determination of arsenic and was reported for the first time in this paper.