4. Conclusion
The present work proves that the HR-CS FAAS can be employed for the determination of fluorine in toothpaste samples by measuring an appropriate molecular absorption line of AlF generated in a nitrous oxide–acetylene flame. It is reliable, fast and simple.
Therefore, after the validation of the method, nitrous oxide/acetylene flame came into prominence for the determination of F via AlF
by HR-CS-AAS.
The most remarkable advantages of the method proposed in this study are as such; Al is a cheap and an easily available molecule forming element and flame used as an atomizer in this study is a cheaper atomizer than graphite furnace that is used extensively in the previous studies.
However, this is an indirect method and like other similar studies,
there are extra parameters to be optimized such as appropriate
concentration of molecule forming reagent. In addition,
the interferences due to competitive reactions of complicated heavy matrix constituents with analyte and the molecule forming element are potential sources of error and cannot be prevented.
Therefore, in case of any difference between the results found by linear calibration and standard addition techniques, the latter is more reliable due to the above-mentioned reasons.