A voltammetric method for diuron determination in river water

A sensitive, simple, fast, and inexpensive method for determining diuron in water using square wave voltammetry and a glassy carbon electrode is presented. This method was developed to evaluate diuron contamination in river waters close to sugarcane cultivation, located in the metropolitan region of João Pessoa, in the state of Paraíba, Brazil. An analytical curve with a linear response ranging from 38.5–115.0 nmol L⁻¹ (r² = 0.993), a LOD equal 0.2 nmol L⁻¹, and recovery rates from 88.0 to 108.0 %. The proposed method does not require any previous chemical treatment of the sample, thus contributing to green analytical chemistry.     

Rapid method for the determination of radiostrontium in milk

A radiochemical procedure comprising ion chromatography for preconcentration, oxalate precipitation for alkali/alkaline earth separation, strontium specific extraction chromatography with a crown ether for calcium/strontium separation, carbonate precipitation for counting on a low background proportional counter, provides a simple, rapid (48 h) and effective method for radiostrontium determination in emergency situation in milk. The separation scheme gives a strontium recovery rate of 62% and an empiric relative standard deviation of 11%. The detection limit for 500 ml milk and 3600-second counting time is 0.090 Bq^.l^-1.     

A new method for the determination of complexing agents in river water using HPLC

 An HPLC-method is described for the rapid and sensitive determination of NTA, EDTA and DTPA in surface and ground water at the sub-μg/L level. The analytes are enriched on anion-exchange cartridges, eluted with formic acid and analyzed on RP 8 columns within 6 min. Recoveries for EDTA and NTA were 110% resp. 94% at an interlaboratory test. They are significantly lowered when higher amounts of sulfate are present in the sample. Reproducibility and comparability with other methods are investigated. The new technique is faster than the well known GC-analysis. Received: 11 March 1996/Revised: 10 June 1996/Accepted: 21 June 1996     

A new method for the determination of complexing agents in river water using HPLC

 An HPLC-method is described for the rapid and sensitive determination of NTA, EDTA and DTPA in surface and ground water at the sub-μg/L level. The analytes are enriched on anion-exchange cartridges, eluted with formic acid and analyzed on RP 8 columns within 6 min. Recoveries for EDTA and NTA were 110% resp. 94% at an interlaboratory test. They are significantly lowered when higher amounts of sulfate are present in the sample. Reproducibility and comparability with other methods are investigated. The new technique is faster than the well known GC-analysis. Received: 11 March 1996/Revised: 10 June 1996/Accepted: 21 June 1996     

Rapid method for determination of radiostrontium in emergency milk samples

A new rapid separation method for radiostrontium in emergency milk samples was developed at the Savannah River Site (SRS) Environmental Bioassay Laboratory (Aiken, SC, USA) that will allow rapid separation and measurement of radiostrontium within 8 hours. The new method uses calcium phosphate precipitation, nitric acid dissolution of the precipitate to coagulate residual fat/proteins and a rapid strontium separation using Sr Resin (Eichrom Technologies, Darien, IL, USA) with vacuum-assisted flow rates. The method is much faster than the previous method that use calcination or cation-exchange pretreatment, has excellent chemical recovery, and effectively removes beta-interferences. When a 100 mL sample aliquot is used with a 20 minute count time, the method has a detection limit of 0.5 Bq·L⁻¹, well below generic emergency action levels.     

An improved rapid method for the determination of actinides in water

A new rapid method has been developed for the determination of Th, Pu, Np, U, Am and Cm isotopes in water samples of about 1 L. Actinides are pre-concentrated by co-precipitation with Ca phosphate, sequentially separated on stacked TEVA and TK221 cartridges and measured by alpha spectrometry. The TK221 extraction chromatographic resin contains i.e. CMPO and DGA extractants. It has been characterized by measuring the weight distribution ratios (D_w) of actinides which are higher than 1000 for all actinides in 3 M HNO₃. The method has been optimized, applied for the analysis of tap and seawater samples and validated by participating in an IAEA proficiency test. Chemical recoveries for all actinides are better than 50%. The method can be performed within one day.

     

A rapid solvent extraction method for the determination of radio-iodine in sea water.

A solvent extraction procedure for the determination of radio-iodine in sea water is described. The water is treated with alkaline permanganate to remove algae, and, after removal of permanganate, the iodide is oxidized to iodine for extraction into toluene. The radio-iodine with carrier is stripped from the solvent then re-extracted into a smaller volume of toluene for liquid scintillation counting and colorimetric determination of carrier recovery as iodine. 2-Methyl-1-butene is used to decolorize the toluene-iodine solution under u.v. light and avoid colour quenching during counting. Samples spiked with iodine-131 showed essentially quantitative recovery from 1.0 l of sea water with a typical recovery of 80–85% of carrier. The method is applicable in the presence of high concentrations of many foreign ions and the decontamination factor for a number of radionuclides is greater than 10³. The limit of detection is less than 5.0 · 10^-9 μCi ml^-1.     

A rapid and sensitive analytical method for the determination of 14 pyrethroids in water samples

A simple, efficient and environmentally friendly analytical methodology is proposed for extracting and preconcentrating pyrethroids from water samples prior to gas chromatography-negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry (GC-NCI-MS) analysis. Fourteen pyrethroids were selected for this work: bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, λ-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, esfenvalerate, fenvalerate, fenpropathrin, τ-fluvalinate, permethrin, phenothrin, resmethrin, tetramethrin and tralomethrin. The method is based on ultrasound-assisted emulsification-extraction (UAEE) of a water-immiscible solvent in an aqueous medium. Chloroform was used as extraction solvent in the UAEE technique. Target analytes were quantitatively extracted achieving an enrichment factor of 200 when 20 mL aliquot of pure water spiked with pyrethroid standards was extracted. The method was also evaluated with tap water and river water samples. Method detection limits (MDLs) ranged from 0.03 to 35.8 ng L⁻¹ with RSDs values ≤3–25% (n = 5). The coefficients of estimation of the calibration curves obtained following the proposed methodology were ≥0.998. Recovery values were in the range of 45–106%, showing satisfactory robustness of the method for analyzing pyrethroids in water samples. The proposed methodology was applied for the analysis of river water samples. Cypermethrin was detected at concentration levels ranging from 4.94 to 30.5 ng L⁻¹.     

Novel tandem column method for the rapid isolation of radiostrontium from human urine

A method has been developed for the isolation of strontium from human urine for subsequent determination in sample volumes as low as 5–20 mL. This method involves the acidification of the sample using methanesulfonic acid and its decolorization using charcoal, treatment of the filtrate with Diphonix^® resin, and subsequent concentration of strontium on Sr resin. Data from retention model simulations provided the initial conditions which were then optimized by actual column separations. Diphonix^® resin was shown to be effective at removing alkali metal ions from the urine matrix under conditions that retain higher valence ions. The suggested processing method provides 99% recovery of Sr²⁺, a concentration factor of 50, and an expected per sample processing time of less than 1 h.     

Fast method for the determination of radiostrontium and plutonium isotopes in food samples

Rapid radioanalytical methods are important in the case of a radiological emergency and for the defence against nuclear hazards, especially for pure alpha and beta emitters like ^239/240Pu and ⁸⁹Sr/⁹⁰Sr. A new fast method was developed with an overall analysis time altogether around 11 h, for only strontium isotopes about 7 h. The method combines two extraction chromatography resins, DGA- and Sr-resin, to separate mainly strontium and plutonium. A broad variety of food samples with different fat, carbohydrate and protein contents were tested and successfully analysed. The yields obtained were typically around 95% and 70% for ⁹⁰Sr and ²⁴²Pu.

     

Rapid trace determination of radiostrontium in milk and drinking water

A rapid method for determining traces of radiostrontium in milk and drinking water is described. The technique involves a batch treatment of the milk sample with a cation exchanger (DOWEX 50W X8) followed by a solvent extraction with a crown ether (DC18C6) and a precipitation of SrCO₃. In the case of water, the strontium is extracted directly with the crown ether. The average separation yield is 74% for milk and 91% for water. The overall separation procedure takes about 8 hours. Activities as low as 0.03 Bq/1 can be determined with a low background GM-counter.     

A rapid method for the determination of metal toxicity to the biodegradation of water insoluble polymers

A rapid and inexpensive test has been developed to investigate the influence of elevated heavy metal concentrations on the degradation of biodegradable plastics. Using an overlay agar technique it could be demonstrated that copper concentrations above 8 to 14 mg/L inhibit the degradation of powdered poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), (PHB), by Acidovorax delafieldii. This is the first study demonstrating the inhibiting influence of metals on the biodegradation of PHB.     

A rapid method for the determination of metal toxicity to the biodegradation of water insoluble polymers

A rapid and inexpensive test has been developed to investigate the influence of elevated heavy metal concentrations on the degradation of biodegradable plastics. Using an overlay agar technique it could be demonstrated that copper concentrations above 8 to 14 mg/L inhibit the degradation of powdered poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), (PHB), by Acidovorax delafieldii. This is the first study demonstrating the inhibiting influence of metals on the biodegradation of PHB.     

A rapid spectrophotometric method for determination of piperazine

A spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of piperazine and its salts (citrate, phosphate, and tartrate) without prior separation, based on the interaction of piperazine or any of its salts with phenothiazine and N-bromosuccinimide in aqueous methanol. The products exhibit absorption maxima at 448, 595 and 645 nm. Measurements are made at 595 nm. Beer's law is obeyed in the concentration range 0.5-5 mug/ml for piperazine salts and 0.5-3 mug/ml for piperazine hexahydrate. The method is rapid, simple and successful for analysis of some pharmaceutical preparations.     

Rapid method for radiostrontium determination in milk in emergency situations using PS resin

This study describes a new and rapid procedure for radiostrontium determination in milk samples based on the use of plastic scintillation resins (PS resins). The proposed method reduces the time of analysis by at least 2 h by combining separation and measurement preparation into a single step and optimizing the pre-treatment steps. The method is robust and reproducible, with good total recoveries (65% on average) and a relative bias for total radiostrontium activity (⁸⁹Sr + ⁹⁰Sr) below 7%. The minimum detectable activity for 100 mL of milk sample measured for 60 min is about 0.34 Bq L^?1. The proposed method can quantify radiostrontium content in 5 h, which makes it suitable for use in emergency situations.     

A rapid method for the determination of organic carbon in soil

TIURIN'S method for the determination of organic carbon in soil is modified to give results practically identical with those of the dry combustion method. The standard deviation of a single determination is only 12%. By using 50 mg of soil and 10 ml of 0.2 N dichromate solution, soils with a carbon, content up to 12% can bo analysed. The method is suitable for all soils except those containing much chloride or reducing substances other than organic carbon Carbonates do not interfere.     

A rapid method for the determination of copper in mineral oils

A rapid method for the determination of small amounts of copper in mineral oils is described which avoids the difficult ignition of the organic matter. The copper is extracted with alcoholic hydrochloric acid and determined colorimetrically by extraction of the 2;2-diquinolyl complex with chloroform.The method operates satisfactorily with sample weights of 10 to 100 g and copper contents of 100 μg to 10 μg.