Atomic absorption spectrophotometry of different kinds of organic lead compounds is said to give different values of lead even in the equivalent concentration of lead but this was found to be true only in the use of a premix burner and the use of total consumption burner was found to give equal absorptions for the equivalent concentration solutions of lead diethyldithiocarbamate, tetraethyllead, and tetramethyllead. Based on this fact, a simplified method for the determination of lead content in gasoline was established. In this method, the sample of gasoline is diluted with methyl isobutyl ketone and absorbance of this solution is measured at 2170 Å, using the total consumption burner. The standard solution is prepared from the standard aqueous lead nitrate solution by the addition of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate solution and extracting it with methyl isobutyl ketone. This method is not only convenient and accurate but is also safe because dangerous tetraalkyllead is not used as the standard substance. Lead content of 24 kinds of commercial gasoline was analyzed by this method.
