FLOW-INJECTION ANALYSIS OF TRACE-ELEMENTS BY USE OF CATALYTIC REACTIONS

Catalytic reactions have importance in trace analyses for elements, and kinetic-catalytic methods of analysis based on catalytic reactions have progressed recently. The change in a physical property such as absorbance, fluorescence, chemiluminescence or electrode potential of a system with time is usually monitored in kinetic-catalytic methods, as these methods include time as a measured variable. Flow-injection analysis (FIA) is considered to be a suitable technique for catalytic methods of analysis, i.e., the reaction can easily be controlled by fixing the flow rate of solutions and the length of the reaction coil, yielding reproducible mixing. The adaptation of FIA to catalytic methods can lead to many advantages such as higher precision, better detection limits and rapid sample throughput. After a brief review of the catalytic action of elements in redox reactions, the use of the catalytic reactions in FIA methods is discussed through representative examples.