Molecular activation analysis for chemical species studies

Molecular activation analysis (MAA) refers to an activation analysis method that is able to provide information on the chemical species of elements in systems of interest, though its exact definition has yet to be assigned. I ts development is strongly stimulated by the urgent need to know the chemic al species of elements, because knowledge of bulk contents or concentration s is often insufficient to judge biological, environmental or geochemical e ffects of elements. The features, methodology and limitations of MAA are ou tlined, as well as the up-to-date MAA pl-ogress in our laboratory.