Hydride generation induced chemiluminescence for the determination of tellurium (IV)

In the present work, hydride generation, as one of widespread application techniques in elemental analysis with the advantage of the excellent matrix separation, was attempted into the chemiluminescence. The experiment exhibited that the strong chemiluminescence emission can be obtained during the reaction between hydrogen telluride and luminol in basic medium, and a novel sensitive hydride generation-chemiluminescence (HG-CL) methodology for the determination of tellurium was proposed. Under the optimized conditions, the linear range of CL intensity versus concentration of tellurium (IV) was 10-200 μg L^− 1, with a coefficient (R) of 0.997 and a limit of detection (S/N = 3) of 2 μg L^− 1. The results showed that the method provided superior performance with respect to tolerance to various coexisting ions such as Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Fe³⁺, Zn²⁺, Pb²⁺, As³⁺, Ge²⁺, and Hg²⁺. The proposed method has the advantages of simplicity, selectivity, and sensitivity, with a potential of detecting tellurium in environmental and biological samples.     

Thermal stabilization of tellurium in mineral acids solutions: use of permanent modifiers for its determination in sulfur by GFAAS

The aim of this work is the study of the best conditions for thermal stabilization of tellurium in graphite furnaces under different experimental conditions, including highly concentrated nitric and hydrochloric acids solutions as those resulting of drastic dissolution procedures. The influence of different noble metals used as matrix modifiers in solution or as permanent layers on the graphite furnace will be assessed.Amongst the assayed matrix modifiers, iridium used as permanent has shown the best performance in high concentrations of mineral acids. The mass employed was 20 μg (for 1 ng of Te), with a maximal attainable pyrolysis temperature of 1400 °C without losses of the analyte or sensitivity (height, area and form of the atomization peak), being mo = 20 pg. Some speculations on the mechanisms of thermal stabilization of tellurium in graphite furnaces will be discussed.The potentiality of ETAAS for tellurium determination in technical grade sulfur will be evaluated. Results involving characteristics mass, limit of detection and percentage of recovery of tellurium in a mineralized sulfur sample will be compared with those obtained through a working curve in absence of interferences.     

Determination of tellurium by hydride generation with in situ trapping flame atomic absorption spectrometry

The analytical performance of coupled hydride generation — integrated atom trap (HG-IAT) atomizer flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) system was evaluated for determination of Te in reference material (GBW 07302 Stream Sediment), coal fly ash and garlic. Tellurium, using formation of H₂Te vapors, is atomized in air–acetylene flame-heated IAT. A new design HG-IAT-FAAS hyphenated technique that would exceed the operational capabilities of existing arrangements (a water-cooled single silica tube, double-slotted quartz tube or an “integrated trap”) was investigated. An improvement in detection limit was achieved compared with using either of the above atom trapping techniques separately. The concentration detection limit, defined as 3 times the blank standard deviation (3σ), was 0.9 ng mL^− 1 for Te. For a 2 min in situ pre-concentration time (sample volume of 2 mL), sensitivity enhancement compared to flame AAS, was 222 fold, using the hydride generation — atom trapping technique. The sensitivity can be further improved by increasing the collection time. The precision, expressed as RSD, was 7.0% (n = 6) for Te. The designs studied include slotted tube, single silica tube and integrated atom trap-cooled atom traps. The accuracy of the method was verified using a certified reference material (GBW 07302 Stream Sediment) by aqueous standard calibration curves. The measured Te contents of the reference material was in agreement with the information value. The method was successfully applied to the determination of tellurium in coal fly ash and garlic.     

Determination of bismuth, selenium and tellurium in nickel-based alloys and pure copper by flow-injection hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry—with ascorbic acid prereduction and cupferron chelation-extraction

Diverse matrix effects on the determination of bismuth, selenium and tellurium (μg g⁻¹) in nickel-based alloys and pure copper by flow-injection hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (FIAS-HGAAS) were investigated. Sodium tetrahydroborate was used as the reductant. The separation of analytes from copper matrix was mandatory while the analytes were successfully determined without being separated from the alloy matrix. Hydrochloric acid was effective in the prereduction of bismuth and selenium, however, it did not give any satisfactory result for tellurium in nickel-based alloys. In this work, 5% (w/v) ascorbic acid was proved effective for the prereduction of tellurium.Successful determination of tellurium in copper was achieved when N-nitroso-N-phenylhydroxylamine (cupferron) chelation-extraction was employed for the separation of tellurium from copper matrix. Cupferron chelation-extraction was performed in phosphate buffer (a mixture of 0.2 mol l⁻¹ sodium phosphate and 0.1 mol l⁻¹ citric acid). Lanthanum hydroxide coprecipitation at pH 10.0±0.5 was effective for bismuth and selenium. Standard reference materials of nickel-based alloys and pure copper were analyzed using the proposed methods. The linear range for the calibration curves were 0.30-15 and 0.20-10 ng ml⁻¹ for BiH₃ and H₂Se, respectively, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9995. For H₂Te, the linear range for the calibration curves was 0.50-12 ng ml⁻¹ with the correlation coefficient of 0.9994. Good agreement was obtained between experimental values and certified values. Satisfactory recovery ranged from 91±1 to 106±2% was obtained from five replicate determinations.     

Sorption characteristics and separation of tellurium ions from aqueous solutions using nano-TiO2

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO₂) were employed for the sorption of Te(IV) ions from aqueous solution. A detailed study of the process was performed by varying the sorption time, pH, and temperature. The sorption was found to be fast, equilibrium was reached within 8 min. When the concentration of Te(IV) was below 40 mg L⁻¹, at least 97% of tellurium was adsorbed by nano-TiO₂ in the pH range of 1-2 and 8-9. The sorbed Te(IV) ions were desorbed with 2.0 mL of 0.5 mol L⁻¹ NaOH. The sorption data could be well interpreted by the Langmuir model with the maximum adsorption capacity of 32.75 mg g⁻¹ (20 ± 0.1 °C) of Te(IV) on nano-TiO₂. The kinetics and thermodynamics of the sorption of Te(IV) onto nano-TiO₂ were also studied. The kinetic experimental data properly correlated with the second-order kinetic model (k₂ = 0.0368 g mg⁻¹ min⁻¹, 293 K). The overall rate process appeared to be influenced by both boundary layer diffusion and intra-particle diffusion. The mean energy of adsorption was calculated to be 17.41 kJ mol⁻¹ from the Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) adsorption isotherm at room temperature. Moreover, the thermodynamic parameters for the sorption were estimated, and the ΔH⁰ and ΔG⁰ values indicated the exothermic and spontaneous nature of the sorption process, respectively. Finally, Nano-TiO₂ as sorbent was successfully applied to the separation of Te(IV) from the environmental samples with satisfactory results (recoveries >95%, relative standard deviations was 2.0%).     

Determination of traces of rubidium in high purity cesium chloride by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) using boric acid as a modifier

The use of boric acid as a modifier for the determination of trace amount of rubidium in high purity cesium chloride matrix by electrothermal atomic absorption is described. It was found that the negative influence of the chloride matrix could not be eliminated using stabilized temperature platform (STPF) alone. Due to the high dissociation energy (D₀ = 427 kJ mol⁻¹) of rubidium chloride, it was difficult to dissociate in the gas phase and hence is lost. Elimination of interferences was achieved by the addition of boric acid as a chemical modifier. Diluted cesium chloride samples (5%, m/v) were analyzed applying the standard addition method. The characteristic mass of 24 pg was obtained. The detection limit of the proposed method is around 26 ng g⁻¹. The developed method was applied to the determination of traces of rubidium in high purity cesium chloride samples. The data obtained by this method were in good agreement with those obtained by other independent method like FAAS.     

Tetramethylammonium trifluoromethyltellurate(0), [NMe4]TeCF3, synthesis, characterisation and properties

[NMe₄]TeCF₃ is obtained in 60% yield from Me₃SiCF₃, elemental tellurium and [NMe₄]F in glyme as a pale yellow solid decomposing at 185 °C. Cation exchange with [PNP]Br ([PNP] = bis(triphenylphosphoranylidene)ammonium) and [(dibenzo-18-crown-6)K]Br occurs spontaneously. These low co-ordinating cations increase significantly the nucleophilicity of the anion.     

γ-Butyltelluro-2-butanol: a route to reactive 1,4-dianion intermediates

γ-Butyltelluro-2-butanol was reacted with 2 equiv of n-butyllithium. Both tellurium/lithium exchange and the proton abstraction reactions took place in a single step and the lithium dianion intermediate efficiently reacted with aldehydes and ketones, producing the corresponding diols.     

Assessment of microcystin purity using charged aerosol detection

The increasing occurrence of toxic cyanobacterial blooms has led to a requirement for robust monitoring strategies and whilst several validated procedures have been developed these can be limited by the lack of high quality calibration standards. High quality standards must have confirmation of identity, purity and concentration by multiple methods. One aspect, purity, is rarely addressed but is essential. This is the first evaluation of the charged aerosol detector (CAD) to determine the benefits of incorporating a universal detector for more accurate purity determination of these peptides. Microcystins were detected at 5–10 ng on the column using the CAD, providing comparable quantification limits to those obtained using traditional UV detection. Purity determination of test compounds that had been partially purified, had showed that highest purity was at 238 nm > UV TIC > ESI TIC > CAD indicating that increased impurities could be detected using the CAD thus providing a more accurate indication of compound quality. Compounds purified by preparative HPLC were shown to have relative purities between 97% and 99%, however, when evaluated by CAD this dropped to 90–94% supporting the multi-detector strategy as essential for production of high quality compounds.     

Direct determination of rare earth impurities in high purity erbium oxide dissolved in nitric acid by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A novel method was developed for the direct determination of trace quantities of rare earth elements (REEs) in high purity erbium oxide dissolved in nitric acid by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in this work. The mass spectra overlap interferences arose from Er matrix on the neighbouring and monoisotopic analytes of ¹⁶⁵Ho(100) and ¹⁶⁹Tm(100) were eliminated by adjusting instrumental peak resolution value from 0.7 to 0.3 amu. The matrix suppression effect of Er on the ion peak signals of REEs impurities was effectively compensated with spiking In as internal standard element. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) of REEs impurities was from 0.0090 to 0.025 μg g⁻¹, the recoveries of spiked sample for REEs were found to be in the range of 90.3-107% through using the proposed method and relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) varied between 2.5% and 6.7%. The novel methodology had been found to be suitable for the direct determination of trace REEs impurities in 99.999-99.9999% high purity Er₂O₃ and the results obtained from this method keep in good agreement with that acquired from high resolution ICP-MS.     

Development and validation of a nonaqueous capillary electrophoretic method for the enantiomeric purity determination of a synthetic intermediate of new 3,4-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-2H-1-benzopyrans using a single-isomer anionic cyclodextrin derivative and an ionic liquid

The enantiomeric purity determination of a synthetic intermediate of new 3,4-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-2H-1-benzopyrans, i.e. 4-amino-2,2-dimethyl-6-ethoxycarbonylamino-3,4-dihydro-2H-1-benzopyran, was successfully carried out using an anionic cyclodextrin (CD) derivative combined with a chiral ionic liquid (IL). In order to obtain high resolution and efficiency values, the addition of a chiral IL, i.e. ethylcholine bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (EtChol NTf₂), to the background electrolyte containing heptakis(2,3-di-O-methyl-6-O-sulfo)-β-CD (HDMS-β-CD) was found to be essential. A simultaneous increase in separation selectivity and enantioresolution seems to indicate a synergistic effect of HDMS-β-CD and EtChol NTf₂. The best enantioseparation of the key intermediate was achieved using a methanolic solution of 0.75 M formic acid, 10 mM ammonium formate, 1.5 mM HDMS-β-CD and 5 mM EtChol NTf₂. Levamisole was selected as internal standard. The optimized conditions allowed the determination of 0.1% of each enantiomer in the presence of its stereoisomer using the method of standard additions. The NACE method was then fully validated with respect to selectivity, response function, trueness, precision, accuracy, linearity and limits of detection and quantification.     

Determination of indium in high purity antimony by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) using boric acid as a modifier

The use of boric acid as a modifier for the determination of trace amount of indium in high purity antimony by electrothermal atomic absorption is described. It was found that the negative influence of the hydrofluoric acid, used for the digestion could not be eliminated by using stabilized temperature platform furnace (STPF) alone. Due to the high dissociation energy (D₀ = 506 kJ mol⁻¹) of indium fluoride, it is difficult to dissociate in the gas phase and hence is lost. In presence of HF (used for the dissolution of antimony), the universal Pd-Mg modifier does not work satisfactorily. Additionally, rising corrosion and reduced tube lifetime were observed when the acid digested (HF-HNO₃) antimony solution was injected in to the platform. Improvement in platform life and elimination of interferences were achieved by the addition of boric acid as a chemical modifier together with ruthenium coating of the platform. Corrosive changes of the transversely heated graphite atomizer (THGA) platform surface were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The standard addition method was applied. A characteristic mass of 36 pg was obtained. The detection limit of the proposed method is around 0.04 μg g⁻¹. The developed method was applied to the determination of indium in real samples. The data obtained by this method were in good agreement with those obtained by ICP-MS.     

Neutron activation analysis for determination of cerium trace impurity in high purity lanthanum oxide

Cerium trace impurity in high purity lanthanum oxide (99.99%) has been determined by NAA after pre-separation of La matrix. In this method, the sample was dissolved in conc. nitric acid and diluted with water. The final concentration of solution is about 0.1M of nitric acid. It was passed through a MnO₂ column. Under these conditions cerium is retained on the column quantitatively without retaining lathanum. Cerium is eluted with 4M nitric acid. The recoveries of Ce were checked with tracers and by standard addition to lanthanum oxide matrices. Results obtained on a high purity lanthanum oxide are reported here.     

Phosphate additives determination in meat products by 31-phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance using new internal reference standard: hexamethylphosphoroamide

New ³¹P NMR internal reference standard - hexamethylphosphoroamide (HMPA) was applied for determination of added polyphosphates and their ionic forms in raw pork meat and meat products. Phosphate species were determined after extraction with a boric acid buffer (pH = 9) and EDTA solution, using internal standard (HMPA) procedure. Hexamethylphosophoroamide was also used as the NMR reference standard. Linear correlations between phosphates and polyphosphate concentrations and ³¹P NMR signal areas were found in the range 81-5236 mg P/dm³, presenting 95-99% recovery and variation coefficient (CV) ≤ 5%. Studied HMPA procedure revealed shorter analysis time and the same recovery (>95%) and precision (CV = 1.3-2.7%) in comparison to MDPA method. Results of phosphate determination by both ³¹P NMR methods were tested against the molybdenumvanadate yellow spectrophotometric method (standard PN-ISO 13730, 1999) using standard reference material (certified phosphate solution).     

Sampling strategies for the analysis of glass fragments by LA-ICP-MS Part I. Micro-homogeneity study of glass and its application to the interpretation of forensic evidence

The authors have previously reported the use of laser ablation ICP-MS as a powerful analytical tool for elemental analysis of glass. LA is a simpler, faster and less intrusive sample introduction method than the conventional solution ICP-MS. Due to the minute amount of material removed in LA (∼300 ng, 50 μm crater size), the analyst should be aware of special sampling considerations such as characterization of the glass fragments originating from the “known” source, fragment size and selection of the area and surface of ablation.The purpose of this work was to evaluate the micro-homogeneity of the elemental composition of glass samples commonly found in crime scenes like containers, architectural windows and windshields. The set of glasses under study was comprised of 56 fragments originated from glass containers, 28 fragments from automobile windshields and 20 fragments from architectural windowpanes. All fragments were selected with a size smaller than 2 mm² in order to simulate the typical glass fragments transferred from the crime scenarios. A Nd:YAG laser, 266 nm, flat top beam profile was used in single point mode sampling 50 μm spot size for 50 s at 10 Hz (500 shots). In this study, ²⁹Si was used as an internal standard and the standard reference material, SRM NIST 612, was used as a single point external calibrator. In addition, SRM 621 was used as another control standard for the containers set and SRM 1831 for the automobile and architectural window sets due to their very similar matrix with the samples of interest. For each set of glasses, the mean values and standard deviation of 10 replicates (n = 10) of a single fragment were compared with the values obtained from 10 (n = 10) different fragments of glass within the area of interest in order to evaluate whether or not the variation within a glass was bigger than the variation due to the method. In addition, a subset of tempered glasses was evaluated to perform an elemental composition profile within different depths of the fragments. Single shot (one laser pulse per analysis) was also evaluated and its limitations for the forensic analysis of glass are also presented. The results show that float glass is homogenous even at the micro-range level allowing LA-ICP-MS as an alternative technique to perform elemental analysis of glass. However, the variation of elemental composition of headlamps and containers is larger over the source than the instrumental variation due to inherent heterogeneity and therefore specific statistical methods are recommended to compare the glass samples.     

On-line preconcentration capillary electrophoresis for purity profiling of synthetic peptides

In this work, an on-line preconcentration capillary electrophoresis method was optimized and evaluated for the purity control of the biologically active synthetic peptide fas-F (a 28-residue long fragment of fasciculin-1) and applied for the purity profiling of angiotensin I, oxytocin, bradykinin and luteinizing hormone releasing hormone. The laboratory-made device of the analyte concentrator cartridge consisted of a fused-silica capillary piece (150 μm i.d.×8 mm in length) packed with silica-based C18 reversed-phase chromatographic material and coupled on-line near the inlet of the separation capillary (bare fused-silica capillary, 75 μm from the concentrator to the detector). Separation of impurities present in assayed samples was achieved by using 25 mM potassium dihydrogen phosphate, pH 3.5, as running buffer and a mixture of acetonitrile: running buffer, 75:25 (v/v), as elution buffer. The intra-day relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) values for migration times ranged from 3.4 to 4.2 and 2.2-2.6% for peak areas. The inter-day R.S.D. values were 5.6-7.1 and 4.6-5.1% for migration times and peak areas, respectively. The impurity profiles obtained for each peptide were compared by CZE and on-line preconcentration CE. The proposed method allowed the preconcentration and separation of impurities with greater selectivity and higher sensitivity (100-200-fold) with respect to capillary zone electrophoresis without on-line preconcentration.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of neutraceuticals, glucosamine sulphate and chitosan, in raw materials and dosage forms

A simple, rapid, selective and specific high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed to quantitate glucosamine and its (β-1-4)-d-polymeric form chitosan. The chromatographic separation was achieved using an aminophase column and refractive index (RI) detection. The mobile phase consisted of ACN:H₂O:CH₃COOH (50:50:0.02) and pH was adjusted to 4.0. The standard curves for glucosamine sulphate showed linearity (r≥0.99) over the concentration range from 20 to 1000 μg ml⁻¹ for raw materials and dosage forms. The precision of the raw material assay expressed as the relative standard deviation (R.S.D.), was less than 3% at all concentrations.Chitosan, poly-(β-1-4)-d-glucosamine compounds, was hydrolysed with 6 M HCl at 100 °C for 10 h and the released glucosamine was determined by the same HPLC method. The proposed method showed linear relation in concentration ranges of 100-500 μg ml⁻¹.The suggested procedure was applied for the determination of glucosamine sulphate and chitosan in their dosage forms and the validity of the method was further checked by applying the standard addition technique. The method was found to be specific with good linearity, accuracy, precision and is well-suited for quantitation of glucosamine sulphate and chitosan in raw materials and pharmaceutical formulations.     

Determination of Tellurium by Gas Phase Molecular Absorption Spectrometry After Hydrogen Telluride Generation

Abstract

A method for determination of tellurium(IV) or tellurium(VI) is described that involves hydrogen telluride generation by reduction with sodium tetrahydro-borate(III), evolution of hydride with HCl solution, transport into a flow-cell placed in a UV-visible molecular absorption spectrophotometer and measurement of gas at 190 nm. Hydride generation and determination procedures are optimized, based on height and area of absorbance versus time profile of hydrogen telluride generated. Using the best experimental conditions found the calibration curve is linear from 5 to 100 μg/ml of tellurium, 1.1 μg/ml of tellurium(IV) or 3.1 μg/ml of tellurium(VI) can be detected, and relative standard deviation ranges from 4 to 7%. The method is applied to the analysis of additives for synthetic rubber making.     

Reactions of β-diketiminates with selenium and tellurium halides

The complexes [nacnacTeCl₄] and nacnacSeCl⁺Cl⁻ (nacnac = [{N(C₆H₃ⁱPr₂2,6)C(Me)}₂CH]⁻) have been prepared in good yields and characterized in the solid state by X-ray crystallography. The crystals of both compounds show C-H activation of the ligand backbone. In the case of tellurium, no LiCl displacement or nitrogen chelation is observed and an ionic TeCl₄ complex is isolated. By contrast, under similar reaction conditions, the reaction with SeCl₄, affords a cationic Se(II) complex with loss of four chlorines and rearrangement of the chloride atom to the nacnac ligand.     

On-line flow injection solid sample introduction, leaching and potentiometric determination of fluoride in phosphate rock

A flow injection method with on-line solid sample dissolution was developed for the determination of fluoride in phosphate rock. The fluoride was selectively leached (98-102.4 % recovery) from a 50-mg powdered phosphate rock sample with 0.50 M citric acid. Using the zone sampling technique the fluoride in the buffered leachate was determined by injecting 87 μL into the carrier stream using a fluoride ion-selective electrode detector. The sensing element of the electrode was housed in a home-made sleeve-type flow-through cell. On-line solid sample digestion with 0.50 M citric acid at 55 °C resulted in minimum dissolution of interfering iron and aluminum ions with improved accuracy and calibration linearity. The incorporation of relatively high level of fluoride in the carrier stream (40 μg mL⁻¹) facilitated the determination of high levels of fluoride in phosphate rock (up to 4.1%) with out the need for excessive on-line dilution.The optimized flow system was applied for the determination of fluoride in phosphate rocks samples and a reference material at a rate of nine samples per hour with a relative standard deviation (n = 5) of 2.95-4.0 %. Comparison of the proposed flow injection method with the standard method, which involves steam distillation from sulfuric acid solution and manual titration with thorium nitrate, showed no evidence of bias at the 95% confidence level.