Determination of cadmium,copper and lead in urine by flame atomic absorption spectrometry after extraction of the iodide complexes as ion-pairs with tri-n-octylamine

A simple, rapid sensitive atomic absorption spectrometric method is described for the determination of cadmium, copper and lead in urine. The metals are extracted as their iodide complexes with tri-n-octylamine in n-butyl acetate, without elaborate pretreatment, and measured by direct nebulization of the extract into an air/ acetylene flame. Detection limits for cadmium, copper and lead in urine were 0.008, 0.05 and 0.02 × 10^?6 mol l^?1, respectively.