ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY UPDATE - ENVIRONMENTAL-ANALYSIS

This is the ninth annual review published in JAAS of the application of atomic spectrometry based procedures to the chemical analysis of environmental samples. The format used is very similar to that of previous years. The most noticeable trend over the past 12 months has been an increase in the exploitation of the analytical power of ICP-MS and MS techniques generally. Even in the analysis of air, some very interesting developments using isotopic tracers have been reported. The availability of a capacity for ultra-trace determinations, however, has, for several workers, served to highlight the need for clean sampling and sample handling techniques if sensible results are to be obtained. With the wider use of ICP-MS, a better understanding of polyatomic ion interference effects is also starting to emerge. In most years, one or two elements seem to attract particular attention in environmental research. At present determination and speciation of Cr seem to be attracting considerable interest.