Air segmented continuous flow analysis in microbore tubing Original Research Article

Results from initial investigations of air-segmented continuous flow analysis (ASCFA) in microbore tubing are reported. Although excessive dispersion is limited in systems employing microbore tubing (i.e., <100 μm), the amount of mixing is increased from the recirculating flow pattern that forms due to the air bubbles. Response signals measured as a function of flow rate, reactor length and segmentation frequency show trends similar to ASCFA in conventional sized tubing. A comparison of systems with and without air segmentation is made employing a slow reaction, an enzyme catalyzed determination of glucose. Results show that the μ-ASCFA system produces a response signal that is 1.9 times the peak absorbance of the signal obtained without segmentation. In addition, the width of the response signal obtained with air segmentation is ∼50.0% of the width of the signal obtained without segmentation.