Simultaneous determination of some trace metals in plant materials by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence method

Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence method with chemical preconcentration has been worked out for Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu and Zn determination in plant materials. The analytical procedure involves wet digestion of organic matter, precipitation of metal ions with NaDDTC and the measurement of K emission lines of the elements to be determined. The overall precision of the method ranges from 3 to 7% /one relative S.D./ depending on the element.     

Analytical fractionation of trace metals in human serum by means of a chelating ion-exchanger

Conclusions Both, in labile form bound trace metals as well as ionic ones in human serum can selectively be separated on the heavy-metal chelating cellulose HYPHAN under physiological conditions. From the separation kinetics, detailed informations on the binding stability of metal-proteins [e.g., Cu(II), Fe(III), Zn(II)] result. Owing to low blanks, the separation procedure can also be applied to the fractionation of nanogram amounts of other metals [e.g., Al(III), Be(II), Mn(II), Ni(II), Pb(II)] in serum. Furthermore, the coupling with a protein fractionation method (e.g., gelchromatography, isotachophoresis) allows to investigate the binding stability of isolated metal-proteins.

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Analytische Fraktionierung von Schwermetallspuren in Blutserum mittels Chelat-Ionenaustauscher

     

X-ray fluorescence spectrometric determination of trace amounts of actinides on electrodeposited samples

A sensitive method is developed to determine traces of uranium, thorium and plutonium in effluent steams from nuclear fuel preparation and recycling facilities. Samples are prepared by electrodeposition of homogeneous, very thin actinide oxide layers on brass plates covered by a polished nickel surface. This procedure allows the aplication of α-spectrometric control measurements. Samples containing about 100 ng of actinide element are determined by x.r.f., which corresponds to actinide levels of 0.1 mg l^?1 in effluents under routine conditions. Simultaneous actinide determinations are possible. Fission products do not interfere.     

Determination of iron and titanium in kaolins by the method of non-dispersive X-ray fluorescence

The possibility of application of the radioactive source excited X-ray fluorescence analysis for titanium and iron determination in kaolins to the routine test of the refinement process has been studied. The iron content can be determined with a simple counting system using a single-channel pulse height analyser, argon filled proportional counter and¹⁰⁹Cd source of 3 mCi for the excitation of K Fe rays. The samples were analysed both as pellets and powders. The iron content ranged from 0.2–2.5% and titanium from 0.1–0.64%. For simultaneous determination of titanium and iron a Si(Li) spectrometer has been used. The²³⁸Pu source has been used for K Fe and K Ti excitation. It is the most convenient source for simultaneous determination of titanium and iron.⁵⁵Fe is the most efficient source for the determination of titanium alone. The best values of precision and determination limit have been achieved for iron with²³⁸Pu and for titanium with⁵⁵Fe.     

Determination of trace amounts of carbaryl in water by solid-phase laser-induced fluorescence

A quick and very sensitive method is proposed for the determination of the insecticide carbaryl, following transformation in 1-naphthol, using solid-phase fluorescence excited by a pulsed nitrogen laser and detected with a charge-coupled device. Carbaryl is hydrolized in an alkaline medium resulting in 1-naphthol. This hydrolysis product is fixed on QAE Sephadex A-25 gel at pH 11.20. The fluorescence of the gel, packed in a 1 mm silica cell, was measured directly using a solid-surface attachment. The detection limit obtained was 1.8 ng. A recovery study was carried out on several types of water samples to check the efficiency of the method. The results obtained are compared with data published in a previous paper where the LS-50 spectrofluorimeter was used. The detection and quantification limits are improved here by an order of magnitude.     

Atomic fluorescence spectrometric determination of trace amounts of arsenic and antimony in drinking water by continuous hydride generation

A highly sensitive and simple method has been developed for the determination of As(III), total As, Sb(III) and total Sb in drinking water samples by continuous hydride generation and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HGAFS). For As determination, water samples aspirated in a carrier of 2 mol l(-1) HCl were merged with a reducing NaBH(4) 3%(m/v) solution, with sample and NaBH(4) flow rates of 12.5 and 1.5 ml min(-1) respectively. The hydride generated in a 170 cm reaction coil was transported to the detector with an Ar flow of 400 ml min(-1), and a limit of detection between 5 and 20 ng l(-1) was obtained. For Sb determination, 2.5 mol l(-1) HCl and 2%(m/v) NaBH(4) were employed, with respective flow rates of 9.7 and 2 ml min(-1). The hydride generated in a 50 cm reaction coil was transported to the detector with an Ar flow rate of 300 ml min(-1), and a limit of detection between 6 and 14 ng l(-1) was obtained. Determination of the total concentration of these elements was obtained after a previous reduction with KI. Recovery studies of different added concentrations of these species in natural water samples were between 93 and 104% for As(III), 96-103% for As(V), 93-101% for Sb(III) and 90-119% for Sb(V).     

Catalytic determination of trace amounts of vanadium by means of the chromotropic acid-bromate reaction

A catalytic reaction-rate method is described for the determination of trace amounts of vanadium; the method is based on the vanadium-catalysed oxidation of chromotropic acid by bromate. The reaction was followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the rate of change in absorbance of chromotropic acid at 430 nm. The method is sensitive, rapid and simple, and allows determination of as little as 5 ng of vanadium. Of the many ions examined, iron(III), copper and tungsten(VI) interfered seriously at 100-fold concentrations. The relative standard deviation for 20 ng of vanadium (10 determinations) was 2.5%.     

Application of ion-exchanger phase photoacoustic spectroscopy to flow analysis of trace amounts of iron in water

Ion-exchanger phase photoacoustic spectroscopy has been applied to the flow analysis of trace amounts of iron in water. The reaction product of iron(II) with 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline-disulphonate, introduced into a carrier solution stream in the flow system, was concentrated on a small amount of QAE-Sephadex gel settled in a fused silica glass tube (1.5 mm i.d.) of a photoacoustic cell. The photoacoustic signal produced by pulsed laser irradiation of the gel beads at 532 nm was detected by a cylindrical piezoelectric transducer which was attached outside the glass tube. When 3.7 ml of a sample solution was introduced into the flow system, the sensitivity of this method was 590 times higher than that of the corresponding solution photoacoustic spectrometry and the detection limit of iron was 0.33 ng/ml. Because the coloured complex was desorbed from the cell with a desorbing agent solution, the present method could afford repeated analyses of natural water samples containing iron at ng/ml levels without any preconcentration procedures.     

The determination of gold in geochemical samples by non-dispersive atomic fluorescence spectrometry

Non-dispersive flame atomic fluorescence spectrometry is a very sensitive method for the determination of gold, with a limit of detection in aqueous solution of about 0.5 ng ml^?1. However, the application of the technique to aqua regia digests of geochemical samples is limited by large scatter signals which are due mainly to aluminium. The use of an auxiliary lamp to provide correction for scatter is suitable for samples containing low concentrations of elements which form refractory compounds in the flame or for samples where the full sensitivity of the fluorescence technique is not required. To obtain both high accuracy and sensitivity, gold must be separated from the scattering matrix and this can be achieved by a simple extraction with a 0.1% (w/v) solution of a trioctylmethyl-ammonium salt (Aliquat-336) in di-isobutyl ketone. The use of fluorescence avoids the need for a large extraction ratio and a subsequent washing step to remove iron, as is normally required for atomic absorption measurements.     

Analysis of trace metals in thin silicon nitride films by total-reflection X-ray fluorescence

The validity of a matrix withdrawal method for the analysis of trace metals in silicon nitride films on silicon wafers by total-reflection X-ray fluorescence has been evaluated with samples contaminated with diluted standard solutions of eight metals (Ca, V, Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Ta, W). The nitride matrix was removed by a decomposition step with HF vapor at ambient conditions followed by the vaporization of the product at a temperature higher than 240°C. The recovery of added metals was determined first directly after vaporization and secondly after preconcentration by the droplet collection (DC) method. The recovery of metals after vaporization at a temperature of 300±50°C was generally close to 100%, except for Cu whose recovery was approximately 40%. The efficiency of the DC step was approximately 50% for most metals but only 10–20% for Cu and Cr. Thus for most metals the total recovery was close to 50%, which is acceptable for analytical purpose. The recovery of Cu and Cr was studied in more detail considering the influence of the thickness of the nitride film, the vaporization temperature, and the composition of the DC solution. The total recovery of Cu increased from approximately 10 to 40% by lowering the temperature of the vaporization step and using a more concentrated DC solution. The recovery of Cr by DC was markedly influenced by the thickness of the nitride film with no great benefit of using a more concentrated DC solution.     

Determination of trace amounts of uranium in plutonium oxide by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - 149Tb, 152Tb, 155Tb and 161Tb can cover all the modalities of diagnostic and therapeutic purposes of nuclear medicine. The production cross...     

Determination of trace metals in sea waters of the Albanian coast by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence

Preconcentration of trace transition and heavy metal ions by precipitation with APDC has been combined with energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence for environmental sea water analysis. The preconcentration procedure implies adding of 500 g Mo ion and 10 ml of 1% water solution of APDC to a 500 ml water sample at pH 4, filtering off on a Millipore filter and analyzing after drying. Realistic detection limits are at 1 g·l^–1 level and precision varies between 10–25% at about 5 g·l^–1 level, depending on the element. Eleven sea water samples, covering Albanian Adriatic and Ionian coast, are analyzed for trace metal ions.     

The trace determination of some heavy metals in waters by flow-injection spectrophotometry and potentiometry

Three automated flow-injection systems are proposed for the determination of traces of manganese(II), lead and copper(II) in waters. The first system utilizes the catalytic effect of manganese(II) on the oxidation of N,N-diethylaniline by potassium periodate at pH 6.86–7.10 (30°C) and is used for spectrophotometric determination at 475 nm in the range 0.02–1.00 μg1^?1; the system involves reagent injection and stopped flow. The determination of lead in the range 0.7–100 μg1^?1 is based on spectrophotometric detection of the lead 4/(2-pyridylazo)resorcinol complex at 525 nm after on-line preconcentration of the sample (5–50 ml) on a minicolumn filled with Chelex-100 or Dowex 1-X8 resin. A potentiometric flow-injection system with a copper ion-selective electrode is applied for the determination of 0.5–1000 μg 1^?1 copper(II) after on-line preconcentration of 50–500 ml of sample on Chelex-100 resin. The procedures are tested on synthetic and real water samples, including sea water and waste-waters.     

Preconcentration method for the determination of thorium in natural water by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

The preconcentration of thorium from natural water and its determination directly by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (WDXRF) were attempted. The first step consists of thorium preconcentration from slightly acid solutions on polyurethane foam (PUF) loaded with 2-etilhexylphosphonic acid (EHPA) reagent as solid phase. PUF held up to 50% (w/w) of the reagent and the preconcentration was maximum at the acidity of 0.25 mol^.l^-1 hydrochloric solution. Sorption on PUF had fast kinetics and 4.0 and 10 mg^.l^-1 detection and quantitation limits of thorium were achieved, respectively, as well as a R.S.D. of 4.2% at 21.7 mg^.l^-1. This method was successfully applied to natural water analyses. The results were in good agreement with reference values of water samples at 95% confidence level.     

Comparison of analytical methods for the determination of trace amounts of strontium and yttrium by photon induced X-ray fluorescence techniques in lateritic materials

Three different analytical methods for the determination of strontium and yttrium in Venezuelan latterites by radioisotope induced X-ray fluorescence are compared, also with results from conventional wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence. The samples analyzed were from Cerro Impacto, Venezuela. The photon-induced energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence system consisted of a¹⁰⁹Cd (7 mCi) source for excitation of the characteristic K X-rays for strontium and yttrium. The detection system employed a high resolution Si(Li) detector and was completely controlled by a PDP-11/05 processor. Of the three analytical methods described, the internal standard-thin film technique was shown to be slightly superior to the conventional standard calibration curve method and the standard additon/dilution procedure. This can be explained by considering the effectiveness of the compensation of the sources of errors by these methods. It should also be noted that in the case of wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence, an about 5–10 times greater sample is needed, which is a limitation compared to energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence in some cases. Finally, typical relative standard deviations of the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence methods were about 10–15% for the range of about 100–100 ppm of strontium and yttrium; these values are acceptable considering the large degree of heterogeneity in this type of geological material. This project was funded by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Technológicas (CONICIT) and performed as part of UNESCO's IGCP-129 “Lateritization Processes” project.