Recent Achievements in Sample Introduction Systems for Use in Chemical Vapor Generation Plasma Optical Emission and Mass Spectrometry: From Macro- to Microanalytics

Chemical vapor generation (CVG) offers several significant advantages for analyses, including efficient matrix separation, which often leads to a reduction of interferences and better detection limits; high transport efficiency of analyte into the atomic spectroscopic detector; in some cases, high selectivity to permit differentiation of chemical species of a particular element and enable use of gas-phase separation methods for speciation of some elements. The development of CVG techniques from a Marsh test (arsine generation) to a recent device combining vapor generation with multichannel sample introduction systems and separation or preconcentration techniques at the macro- and microscale for use in optical emission and mass spectrometry is reviewed.