Atomic spectrometry update. Industrial analysis: metals, chemicals and advanced materials

This Atomic Spectrometry Update is the latest in an annual series(1) under the title 'Industrial Analysis'. The writing team has remained unchanged this year, although the writing duties have been re-arranged slightly. The general structure of the review is fundamentally the same as in previous years' but in an,attempt to keep the review focused on, atomic spectrometry, there have been a few omissions. Included in these omissions are numerous papers that have described the derivatization of a commercial resin with an organic functional group, so that analytes may be. preconcentrated and/or separated from the matrix. Although the chemistry is interesting in such papers, it was thought that this does not really count as being analysis of an organic chemical nor, in most cases, was it a serious advance in knowledge of atomic spectrometry. The use of SIMS as a depth-profiling tool is still extremely common. Many papers however give little detail on the atomic spectroscopy side and inclusion of all the papers would lead to an enormous number of references whilst adding very little in the way of detail. Therefore, only a few papers have been chosen to give the,reader a taste of what research is being performed. The use of LIBS appears to be gaining popularity, especially in the area of metals analysis, although applications for polymers, ceramics and semi-conductors have also appeared. Much of the methodology reported in the organics section, is similar to that described in previous reviews with only relatively minor tweaks but in some areas, e.g. oils, the introduction of more advanced techniques have been reported. This is a function of the more ambitious analyses being performed requiring more imaginative techniques to be employed to ensure success.