A Practical Guide to Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

A complete nuts-and-bolts guide to GFAAS principles, methodology, instrumentation, and applications

Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry is now generally accepted as one of the most reliable methods of measuring quantities of trace elements in biological, clinical, environmental, food, geological, and other samples. Yet, surprisingly, there continues to be a dearth of practical guides and references on the subject. A Practical Guide to Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry helps to fill that gap by providing chemists with:
* Detailed coverage of GFAAS theory and analytical methodology
* Descriptions of instrumentation, calibration, and analysis
* Step-by-step instructions on how to prepare and introduce samples
* Strategies for developing original GFAAS methods for your lab
* Practical, in-depth reviews of all commercial instrumentation
* A complete guide to the relevant world literature on GFAAS

Long considered too unwieldy for most practical purposes, Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (GFAAS) is now considered an indispensable tool of analytical chemistry. Thanks to a series of relatively recent instrumental and methodological improvements that make the technique more easy to control, GFAAS is now routinely used for measuring concentrations of many trace elements (all metals and some nonmetals) in biological, clinical, environmental, food, geological, and other samples--especially in cases in which the samples are either too small or in which the analyte concentrations are too low to be measured by flame atomic absorption techniques.

A Practical Guide to Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry is an up-to-date and thorough guide to performing GFAAS. Following a concise introduction to GFAAS theory, nomenclature, and analytical methodology, the authors present a detailed discussion of all practical aspects of GFAAS. In separate chapters they provide in-depth coverage of calibration, instrumentation, interference-free analysis, and sample preparation and introduction. Chapters also examine the types, costs, and training of commercial GFAAS instrumentation, and strategies for developing GFAAS methods tailored to the unique demands of your research pursuits.

The book concludes with a series of helpful appendices featuring a fascinating historical account of GFAAS, a guide to relevant literature in the field, and a valuable compilation of conditions for performing GFAAS.

A Practical Guide to Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry belongs in the working libraries of all analytical chemists.

Jacket Design/Illustration: Keithley & Associates Inc.

DAVID J. BUTCHER, PhD, is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina.

JOSEPH SNEDDON, PhD, is Professor of Chemistry at McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana.