Vapor generation by UV irradiation for sample introduction with atomic spectrometry

Volatile species of the conventional hydride-forming elements (As, Bi, Sb, Se, Sn, Pb, Cd, Te), Hg, transition metals (Ni, Co, Cu, Fe), noble metals (Ag, Au, Rh, Pd, Pt), and nonmetals (I, S) were generated following UV irradiation of their aqueous solutions to which low molecular weight carboxylic acids (formic, acetic, propionic) had been added. Free radicals arising from photodissociation of the latter provide a new and useful alternative to the common methods of chemical/electrochemical vapor generation techniques for the determination of these analytes by atomic spectrometry. Quantitative estimates of the efficiencies of these generation processes were not undertaken, although calculated signal-to-background ratios (> 1500 for 5 ng/mL As, Sb, Bi, Se, and Te; 20 for 10 ng/mL Sn, Cu, Rh, Au, Pd, Pt, and Cd; 2400 for 1 ng/mL Hg; and 1000 for Co using ICP-TOF-MS detection) do provide clear evidence of the efficacy of this approach for sample introduction. In the case of Ni and Se, the tetracarbonyl and alkylated selenium compounds have been identified, respectively.