Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
>What is Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy?
Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) is a spectroanalytical procedure for the quantitative determination of chemical elements using the absorption of optical radiation (light) by free atoms in the gaseous state.
In analytical chemistry the technique is used for determining the concentration of a particular element (the analyte) in a sample to be analyzed. AAS can be used to determine over 70 different elements in solution or directly in solid samples used in pharmacology, biophysics and toxicology research.
Atomic absorption spectroscopy was first used as an analytical technique, and the underlying principles were established in the second half of the 19th century by Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, both professors at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
>Instruments Used in Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy:
- Atomizers- devices that converts liquid into particles.
- Spectrometer- it is an instrument used to measure properties, such as massenergy, wavelength, or index of refraction, and disperse radiant energy.
- Radiation Sources- We have to distinguish between line source AAS (LS AAS) and continuum source AAS (CS AAS). In classical LS AAS, as it has been proposed by Alan Walsh, the high spectral resolution required for AAS measurements is provided by the radiation source itself that emits the spectrum of the analyte in the form of lines that are narrower than the absorption lines.
Colors in Absorption line
>Uses
- Clinical analysis: Analyzing metals in biological fluids and tissues such as whole blood, plasma, urine, saliva, brain tissue, liver, muscle tissue, semen
- Pharmaceuticals: In some pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, minute quantities of a catalyst that remain in the final drug product
- Water analysis: Analyzing water for its metal content.
