Results from initial investigations of air-segmented continuous flow analys
is (ASCFA) in microbore tubing are reported. Although excessive dispersion
is limited in systems employing microbore tubing (i.e., <100 mu m), the amo
unt of mixing is increased from the recirculating flow pattern that forms d
ue to the air bubbles. Response signals measured as a function of flow rate
, reactor length and segmentation frequency show trends similar to ASCFA in
conventional sized tubing. A comparison of systems with and without air se
gmentation is made employing a slow reaction, an enzyme catalyzed determina
tion of glucose. Results show that the mu-ASCFA system produces a response
signal that is 1.9 times the peak absorbance of the signal obtained without
segmentation. In addition, the width of the response signal obtained with
air segmentation is similar to 50.0% of the width of the signal obtained wi
thout segmentation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.