Coupled gas chromatography-atomic absorption spectrometry.

The specific, precise detection of volatile metal chelates has been obtained by coupling the effluent from a gas chromatograph directly to the burner head of a commerical atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). Quantitation of chromium in the nanogram range has been accomplished with a detection limit of 1.0 ng. The chelation-extraction-gas chromatographic separation procedure coupled with the selective detection by AAS gives a relatively interference-free system that has been used to quantitatively analyse for chromium in standard biological materials NBS SRM 1571 Orchard Leaves and SRM 1569 Brewers Yeast. Metal chelates of iron, copper and cobalt have also been detected by this system.