Continuous flow analysis: Simultaneous spectrophotometric determinations of metals

Methods for the simultaneous determination of aluminium and manganese, aluminium and iron(III), and calcium and magnesium, based on the use of dual spectrophotometric detection in segmented flow analysis, were developed. Ligand-exchange reactions or reactions at different rates were used. The methods were tested on both synthetic and real samples (soil extracts, sedimentary rock). Up to 32 samples per hour can be analyzed. A rapid flow analyzer with double-beam spectrophotometer was used for the analyses. Relative standard deviations were 1.0–6.5%.