Trace enrichment and measurement of platinum by flow injection inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A flow injection system incorporating an alumina microcolumn has been coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for on-line preconcentration and determination of platinum (IV) in natural waters. Depending on the nature of the sample, a nominal preconcentration factor of up to 600 can be achieved by eluting with 50l of 2 mol/l NH₄OH. The limit of detection after a 5 min preconcentration time was 4 ngl^-1, with a relative standard deviation of 4% (100 ngl^-1 working solution). The proposed method was assessed for the determination of platinum (IV) in natural waters, motor car exhaust and some common analytical reagents.