Chemical interference:

The chemical reactions among the analyte and other components of the sample which might reduce the number of free atoms produced, give rise to chemical interference. For instance, the oxide creation could affect the result of the determination.  This  is  since  oxides  exhibit  broad  band  absorptions  and  could scatter  radiation  therefore  interfering  along with  signal  detection.  In addition, when the sample contains organic solvents, scattering could occur because of the carbonaceous particles left from the organic matrix.

Within the analysis of mercury through AFS, the presence of species which might inhibit the creation of elemental mercury within the vapour generation process is potential chemical interferences. Instead in the hydride generation method, a number of transition metal ions are found to suppress the creation of volatile hydrides and thereby act as chemical interferences.