A simple strategy using an atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) for the direct determination of molecular compounds is proposed. The determination of caffeine and propranolol employing atomic absorption instrumentation was conducted, monitoring the emission lines of Fe (271.9 nm) and Mg (285.2 nm), respectively, using a quartz cuvette (1.0 cm) positioned in the burner head. Samples or standards were inserted into the cuvette in order to obtain the absorbance measurements. The parameters of merit were evaluated and the limits of detection were 0.46 and 0.56 mg L-1 for caffeine and propranolol, respectively, with a coefficient of determination R2 > 0.999. The methods developed were applied to the determination of caffeine and propranolol in real samples of beverages and pharmaceutical formulations, respectively. To evaluate the accuracy of the proposed methodologies the results obtained by atomic absorption spectrometer were compared with those obtained by molecular absorption spectrophotometry (UV-Vis) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or capillary electrophoresis (CE).
Keywords:
direct molecular determination; atomic absorption spectrometer; caffeine; propranolol
