Speciation of tetraalkyllead compounds by flow injection — atomic absorption spectrophotometry

The on-line demetallation of alkyllead compounds, with iodine, and further emulsification, provides a fast determination of total lead content in liposoluble matrices, such as gasolines. It can be carried out in a double channel manifold, using a magnetically well stirred dilution chamber for the emulsification of the samples, previous to their analysis by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. On the other hand, the different behaviour of tetraethyllead (TEL) and tetramethyllead (TML) can be employed for speciation of both compounds in the sample. The effect of the flow injection parameters on the sensitivity and accuracy has been studied and the figures of merit of the proposed method…