Atomic Spectroscopy Flashcards
What is atomic spec?
- Spectral emission occurs when an elctron transitions from a higher energy state to a lower energy state
- The energy of an emitted photon corresponds to the energy difference between the two states therefore the emission of each atom is going to be characteristic
Four principles to remember about atomic spec
- The energy of each state is fixed
- The energy difference between them is fixed
- The transition will always produce a photon with the same energy
- Important to remember that the energy is limited by the levels
What are the 3 main principles of atomic emission spectrophotometry? (What elements can be used)
- Based on electron transitions
- Atoms are thermally excited so they emit light when they move from a higher energy level to a lower energy level and the emitted radiation is measured
- Only a limited number of elements are sufficiently excited by the thermal energy for AES measurements - limited primarily to the analysis of alkaline metals and some alkaline earth metals
How does atomic emission spectrophotometry work? (3 points)
- e- in the outer shell gain energy and are elevated to a higher electronic state
- The excess energy is lost by transition to the stable electronic ground state with emission of energy
- Emission of energy is associated with different transitions
What are the three main components of the instrumentation used for AES?
- Flame or plasma source
- Monochromator/Filter
- Detector
Instrumentation for AES: Flame detector or plasma source
- (aq) sample containing metal is volatilised (atomised) and excited using natural gas or compressed air at 2000°C
- Higher temps (2500°C) may be achieved using air/acetylene mixtures e.g. required for AES of Mg
Instrumentation for AES: Monochromator/Filter
- Radiation emitted by excited atoms can be broad (due to interference by sample components and the flame)
- Set to monitor the wavelength of interest and filter out other wavelengths
Instrumentation for AES: Detector
- Used to measure the intensity of emitted radiation (related to conc) - more atoms, the higher the intensity of the bands it’s going to be
- Photosensitive cell/photomultiplier
What factors interfere with AES?
- Ionisation
- Sample viscosity
- Anionic interference
ABS Interfering factors: Ionisation
- Some atoms may lose an e- at high temps
- This reduces observed emission
- Other readily ionised elements in the sample may affect degree of ionisation
- Solution = add excess of readily ionised element e.g. K as an ionisation depressant
Interfering factors: Sample viscosity
- Organic substances in a sample can increase or decrease the viscosity which subsequently affects the rate of sample transfer to the flame
- This affects the reading (if viscosity increases, false low readings occur)
Interfering factors: Anionic interference
- Anions form in-volatile salts (-ve charged) with metal ions and can reduce the sample reading. Examples include = sulfate and phosphate ions
- Solution = add lanthanum chloride to precipitate anions
Applications in pharmaceutical analysis: AES
- Analysis of trace metals in sample matrices
- Multi elemental analysis
- Quantification of alkali metals in infusion and dialysis solutions
- Determination of metallic impurities in raw materials and formulations
Common elements = Ca, Ba, Na, Li and Know
Quantification of AES in pharmaceutical analysis
- Involves construction of calibration curve
- Flame photometry readings are proportional to the conc of metal at a particular wavelength
- The conc can be determined from emission reading using the equation for calibration line
Principles of atomic absorption spectrophotometry
- Many heavier atoms e.g. Zn and Al cannot be thermally excited at ground state to excited state due to large amount of energy required.
- Instead of using thermal energy to excite atoms we use radiation at a defined wavelength from a hollow cathode tube which is coated with the metal being analysed - passed through flame
- The atoms become volaltised in the flame
- The volatile atoms absorb radiation with energy corresponding to the difference between he ground and excited states
- The amount absorbed relates directly to the conc of metal atoms in the flame