4. Analysis of environmental and biological samples by atomic spectroscopic methods

Abstract

Abstract The rapid and constant development of human activities increases the need for analytical chemistry, which enables important decisions to be made daily in different fields such as industry, environment or health. These developments affect directly the quality of our daily life. A few years ago, the analyst's main concern was to perform determinations under the most appropriate conditions and with control of matrix interferences. However, prior to any measurement, there are two fundamentally important stages: sampling and sample preparation, which are too often overlooked in the quality control of environmental and biological analysis. It would be incorrect to say that these two stages were neglected in the past; most analysts were well aware of their importance. Despite significant progress in instrumentation, the quality of the results did not follow the same trend. It appeared necessary to look beyond the instrumentation and it became increasingly obvious that important errors were mostly associated with sample pretreatment stages. Research trends have focused on these critical steps. As a result, analytical chemists are now much better prepared than previously to develop new methods or to control their validity. Sample preparation and development of methods have now became a growing field along with instrumental improvements. This chapter describes the different sample preparation techniques used prior to atomic spectroscopic analysis and gives an overview of interferences likely to occur in the analysis of environmental and biological samples. The use of the principal atomic spectroscopic techniques and their application to environmental analysis will be discussed, with emphasis on problems associated with preparation of different types of environmental samples.