The application of the ph-stat method to metal ion-catalyzed reactions

The pH-stat method, which is well known in organic chemistry and biochemistry, is used for the kinetic determination of metal ion catalysts. Indicator reactions that involve protons can be followed by controlled addition of standard base or acid. This is illustrated by the following examples: determination of copper(II) (0.03–0.3 μg ml^-1) with the indicator reaction ascorbic acid—peroxydisulphate; determination of molybdenum(VI) (0.2–2.5 μg ml^-1) with the indicator reaction thiosulphate—hydrogen peroxide; determination of zirconium(IV) (0.2–2 μg ml^-1) with the indicator reaction iodide—hydrogen peroxide; and determination of vanadium(V) (0.2–2 μg ml^-1) with the indicator reaction iodide—bromate. For one example, the copper—ascorbic acid—peroxydisulphate reaction, it is shown that the pH-stat method has distinct advantages over closed systems, giving considerably better sensitivity for the determination of copper (0.5–5 ng ml^-1 ).     

Flow injection determination of hydrogen peroxide by means of a solid-state-peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence reactor

A solid-state reactor for detection of hydrogen peroxide in aqueous samples by peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence is described. Bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)oxalate in solid form is packed into a bed reactor, which eliminates mixing problems and facilitates the instrumental development. Perylene is added as a sensitizer to a water/acetonitrile (20:80) carrier stream into which the samples (200–600 μl) are injected. Detection limits of 6 × 10^?9 M H₂O₂ (0.2 μg l^?1) are obtained with both a commercial and a home-made luminescence detector. Calibration graphs are linear up to 10^?5 M. The r.s.d. for 2 × 10^?7 M (6.7 μg^?1) hydrogen peroxide (n = 10) is 2.8%. Sample throughput is ca. 120 h^?1.     

Determination of aluminium in blood plasma or serum by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

A carbon-furnace atomic absorption method is used to determine aluminium in blood serum or plasma, diluted (1 + 2) with purified water prior to injection (20 μl) into the furnace. Procedures are described to reduce contamination during sample collection, storage and preparation of samples. A study of the interferences of inorganic ions shows that the temperature programme developed minimises these, allowing the use of aqueous standards for calibration. Ashing at 1400°C, prior to atomisation, also removes non-specific background effects, and optical correction is not required. A sample throughput of 50 duplicate analyses per day is possible and the precision (between batch) at 24 μg Al l^-1 was 11.2% (n = 10) and at 340 μg Al l^-1 was 6.3% (n = 18). Down to 4 μg Al l^-1 can be determined. Reference values for a healthy population were 4.1–20 μg Al l^-1 (mean 10.2).     

Flow Injection Determination of Hydrogen Peroxide Using a Carbon Paste Electrode Modified with a Manganese Dioxide Film

Abstract

A manganese dioxide film modified carbon paste electrode was developed for use as an amperometric sensor for the determination of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in ammoniacal aqueous solutions. The electrode showed a stable response towards H₂O₂ after electrochemical activation. Effects of flow rate, operating potential, concentration, injection volume and interferences were investigated. A linear response towards H₂O₂ from 5 μg.l^?1 to 450 mg.l^?1 and a detection limit (3 signal-to-noise ratio) of 4.7 μg.l^?1 was found. The method was employed for the determination of H₂O₂ in rain water samples.     

The simultaneous determination of As,Cd, Co,Hg, Mo,and Zn in fresh water by neutron activation analysis

A radiochemical neutron activation method for the simultaneous determination of arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, mercury, molybdenum, and zinc in fresh water is described. The method is based on anion-exchange separation in hydrochloric acid media followed by simple precipitations. The determination limits, based on analysis of a 5-ml sample without preconcentration, and with a well-type NaI(Tl) detector, are as follows: As, 10^-3 μg l^-1 ; Cd, 6 × 10^-2 μg l^-1 ; Co, 4 × 10^-3 μg l^-1 ; Hg, 7 × 10^-3 μg l^-1 ; Mo, 10^-1 μg l^-1 ; Zn, 2 × 10^-1 μg l^-1. The method is adequate for the analysis of natural fresh waters.     

Application of edta to direct graphite-furnace atomic absorption analysis for cadmium in sea water

A method is described for the direct determination of cadmium in undiluted sea water by graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The addition of EDTA ( 1 mg ml^-1) reduces the temperature of atomization of cadmium to far below that of volatilization of other matrix components. The need for very careful temperature control and accurate background compensation is thus minimized. Sea water was analyzed by the method of standard additions. A detection limit of 0.01 μg l^-1, a sensitivity of 0.034 μg l^-1 and a precision of ±10% at the 0.05 μg l^-1 level were obtained for 20-μl injections.     

Comparison of atomic absorption spectrometric,spectrophotometric, and fluorimetric methods for determination of aluminum in water

Three methods for quantifying aluminum in water samples are compared. An electrothermal atomic absorption method is assumed to be free of interferences and has an applicable range of 10 to above 1000 μg Al l^-1. The colorimetric ferron method has multiple interferences and is useful in the 50–1500 μg Al l^-1 range. The fluorimetric method based on lumogallion has few important interferences and is useful to below 1 μg Al l^-1.     

Determination of hydrogen peroxide by using a flow injection system with immobilized peroxidase and long pathlength capillary spectrophotometry

The development of a highly sensitive method for the determination of nanomolar concentrations of hydrogen peroxide in the liquid phase is described. This paper demonstrates for the first time a flow injection analysis (FIA) system with immobilized enzyme reactor combined with a total internal reflective cell (a liquid waveguide capillary cell (LWCC)) and spectrophotometric detection, for the development of an improved procedure for the determination of hydrogen peroxide. Moreover, the newly synthesized 4-aminopyrazolone derivative, 4-amino-5-(p-aminophenyl)-1-methyl-2-phenyl-pyrazol-3-one (DAP), is used as a color coupler in its oxidative condensation with the sodium salt of N-ethyl-N-sulphopropylaniline sodium salt (ALPS) which acts as a hydrogen donor. Immobilization of peroxidase is achieved by coupling the periodate-treated enzyme to aminopropyl controlled-pore glass (CPG) beads. The determination of hydrogen peroxide is carried out in a 0.1 M phosphate buffer and the product is monitored at 590 nm with a charge-coupled device (CCD) detector equipped with fiber optics in a fully computerized system. The interference of different species, mainly ionic, was investigated.The method permits detection down to 4 nmol l⁻¹ hydrogen peroxide (signal-to-noise ratio=3). A linear calibration graph was obtained over the range 20-700 nmol l⁻¹. The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) at 300 nmol l⁻¹ H₂O₂ is 1.7% (n=7). The method was successfully applied for the determination of hydrogen peroxide in samples from a vat-cleaning process.     

Determination of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and silvex in water with high-performance liquid chromatography

The determination of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2-(2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy) propionic acid (Silvex) in water at the μg l^-1 level is based on liquid/ liquid extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography. Sample preparation for water samples is simplified. The ranges of linear response are 50 ng to 60 μg for 2,4-D and 30 ng to 60 μg for Silvex. The average recoveries of 2,4-D at the 10 μg l^-1 and 1 μg l^-1 levels are 91% and 120%, respectively, while the average recoveries of Silvex at the 10 μg l^-1 and 1 μg l^-1 levels are 85% and 110%, respectively.     

Flow-injection catalytic determination of molybdenum with blamperometric detection in a microprocessor-controlled system

The flow-injection determination of molybdenum(VI) is based on its catalytic effect on the oxidation of iodide by hydrogen peroxide. The triiodide ion formed in this reaction is detected amperometrically in a flow-through cell containing two platinum wire electrodes polarized at 100 mV. After optimization of the measuring conditions, the detection limit is 1.2 μg l^?1 Mo(VI) and the linear range extends to 1 mg l^?1. Interference of various metal ions and their removal is described. The procedure was tested on the determination of molybdenum(VI) in soil extracts.     

Determination of trace elements in sea water by inductively-coupled plasma emission spectrometry

Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni, Mn, Fe, V and Cu in sea water are determined by extraction of their complexes with sodium diethyldithiocarbamate into chloroform, decomposition of the chelates and inductively-coupled plasma emission spectrometry. When 1-l water samples are used, the lowest determinable concentrations are: 0.063 μg Mn l^-1, 0.13 μg Zn l^-1, 0.25 μg Cd l^-1, 0.25 μg Fe l^-1, 0.38 μg V l^-1, 0.5 μg Ni l^-1, 0.5 μg Cu l^-1, and 2.5 μg Pb l^-1. Above these levels, the relative standard deviations are better than 12% for the complete procedure.     

Spectrophotometric determination of tantalum with 4,5-dibromo-o-nitrophenylfluorone

Micro amounts of tantalum can be determined directly by spectrophotometry with 4,5-dibromo-o-nitrophenylfluorone, citric acid, hydrogen peroxide and Triton X-100 in 0.5–5 mol l^?1 sulphuric acid. The apparent molar absorptivity of tantalum at 530 nm is 1.84 × 10⁵ l mol^?1 cm^?1. Beer's law is obeyed for 0–10 μg of tantalum in 25 ml of solution at 530 nm and a large amount of niobium and most foreign ions can be tolerated. Results obtained by applying the proposed method to niobium oxide, ferroniobium, nickel-base alloy and a mineral are satisfactory. The synthesis of the complexing agent is described.     

Sensitive determination of traces of boron in waters,fertilizers na geological and biological materials by isotope-dilution mass spectrometry

A method is described for determining traces of boron in water, fertilizers, geological and biological (reference) materials by isotope-dilution mass spectrometry after separation on an Amberlite IRA-743 borate-selective ion-exchange column. Boron (–250 ng g^?1) in water can be determined with an accuracy of 5–20% (computed on a 2s basis). After correction for weighing errors and for moisture, content, which varied from 0 to 8% for the samples tested, 1–35 μg g^?1 boron in “dry” fertilizer, biological or geological sample can be assayed with an accuracy of 5–30% (2s). In an IAEA interlaboratory program on a simulated fresh water, the method yielded a value of 24.3 +? 2 μg l^?1, compared to the make-up value of 25 μg l^?1.     

Sensitive spectrofluorimetric determination of zinc at ultra-trace levels

An ultra-trace method based on the reaction of zinc with salicylthiocarbohydrazone (SATCH) and Triton X-100 as a non-ionic surfactant was developed for the fluorimetric determination of zinc at the picogram level. The reaction is carried out in the pH range 4.4–4.7 in an aqueous ethanolic medium [52% (v/v) ethanol]. The influence of the reaction variables is discussed. The detection limit is 10 pg ml^?1 and the range of application is 0.01–500 μg l^?1, with an optimum range of 0.04–400 μg l^?1. The relative standard deviations are 0.68% (0.01–0.1 μg l^?1 of zinc), 0.41% (0.1–1.0 μg l^?1 of zinc), 0.64% (1–10 μg l^?1 of zinc), 0.82% (10–100 μg l^?1 of zinc) and 0.15% (100–500 μg l^?1 of zinc). The method is highly sensitive and selective in the presence of Cd^II and Hg^II. The effect of interferences from other metal ions and anions was studied; the masking action is discussed. The advantages of the proposed method include its high sensitivity, simplicity and selectivity.     

Automated method for the determination of boron in water by flow-injection analysis with in-line preconcentration and spectrophotometric detection

A sensitive, automated method for the determination of boron in water samples is described, involving flow injection with on-line ion-exchange preconcentration and spectrophotometric detection of the azomethine-H—boron complex. The method is applicable to various water samples and is free from interferences, even in coloured samples. Detection limits of 5 μg l^?1 at 20 samples h^?1 and 1 μg l^?1 at 10 samples h^?1 with relative standard deviations of < 10% at 1–10 μg l^?1 and < 5%at 10–200 μg l^?1 levels of boron were achieved. The recoveries for spiked natural water samples ranged from 96 to 101%. The method compares favourably with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry.     

Sensitive determination of captopril by flow injection analysis with chemiluminescence detection based on the enhancement of the luminol reaction

This work reports a novel flow injection (FI) method for the determination of captopril, 1-[(2S)-3-mercapto-2-methylpropionyl]-l-proline (CPL), based on the enhancement CPL affords on the chemiluminescence (CL) reaction between luminol and hydrogen peroxide. For this purpose alkaline luminol and hydrogen peroxide solutions were mixed online, the sample containing CPL was injected into an aqueous carrier stream, mixed with the luminol-hydrogen peroxide stream and pumped into a glass flow cell positioned in front of a photomultiplier tube (PMT). The increase in the CL intensity was recorded in the form of FI peaks, the height of which was related to the CPL mass concentration in the sample. Different chemical and instrumental parameters affecting the CL response were investigated. Under the selected conditions, the log-log calibration curve was linear in the range 5-5000 μg l⁻¹ of CPL, the limit of detection was 2 μg l⁻¹ (at the 3σ level), the R.S.D., s_r was 3.1% at the 100 μg l⁻¹ level (n=8) and the sampling rate was 180 injections h⁻¹. The method was applied to the determination of CPL in pharmaceutical formulations with recoveries in the range 100±3%.     

A simple and selective flow-injection spectrophotometric determination of copper(II) by using acetylsalicylhydroxamic acid

A new simple, and rapid flow-injection spectrophotometric method is developed for the determination of trace amounts of Cu(II) by using a new chromogenic reagent acetylsalicylhydroxamic acid (AcSHA). The method is based on the formation of colored Cu(II)-(AcSHA)₂ complex. The optimum conditions for the chromogenic reaction of Cu(II) with AcSHA is studied and the colored (green) complex is selectively monitored at λ_max 700 nm. With the reagent carrier solvent (dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and acetate buffer, pH 4.2) flow-rate of 1 ml min⁻¹, a detection limit (2S) of 1 μg l⁻¹ Cu(II) was obtained at a sampling rate of 80 sample h⁻¹. The calibration graph was linear in the Cu(II) concentration range 5-120 μg l⁻¹. The relative standard deviation (n=10) was 0.64% for a sample containing 60 μg l⁻¹ Cu(II). The detailed study of various interferences confirmed the high selectivity of the developed method. The method was successfully applied to determine trace amounts of copper(II) in river and seawater samples. The accuracy of the method was demonstrated by the analysis of standard reference materials C12X3500 and C14XHS 50.     

The spectrophotometric determination of antimony in water,effluents, marine plants and silicates

A spectrophotometric procedure is described for the determination of antimony in natural waters (including sea water and effluents), algae and silicates. After a preliminary oxidative digestion for waters, or acid attack for algae and silicates, the element is quantitatively coprecipitated at pH 5.0 with hydrous zirconium oxide. The precipitate is dissolved in acid, and, after reduction with titanium(III) chloride, antimony is oxidized to antimony(V) with sodium nitrite. The ion pair of the SbCl₆^- ion with crystal violet is extracted with benzene and its absorbance is measured at 610 nm (molar absorptivity 74,000 l mol^-1 cm^-1). Extraction with toluene causes some loss of sensitivity. The detection limit is 0.005 μg l^-1; relative standard deviations are 0.5% and 1.1% for spiked distilled water (0.5 μg l^-1) and sea water (0.26 μg l^-1), respectively. A wide range of anions and cations cause no interference at levels many times those in natural waters. The technique can be adapted for application to marine algae and silicates; relative standard deviations are 1.8% and 2% for samples of Pelvetia canaliculata (0.19 μg Sb g^-1) and a Pacific Ocean red clay (1.08 μg Sb g^-1), respectively. Results for the U.S. Geological Survey Standard rocks GSP1 (2.7 ppm) and DTS1 (0.53 ppm) are in good agreement with those of earlier workers.     

Determination of iron by catalytic oxidation of p-aminophenol by hydrogen peroxide

The oxidation reaction of p-aminophenol by hydrogen peroxide was studied in the presence of ferric ions, which catalyzes it. The corresponding rate constants were calculated and the activation energy was determined. A method for ultramicrodetermination of ferric ion was developed using the method of tangents. Determination of ferric ions from 0.5 × 10^?1 up to 4.5 × 10^?2 μg/ml is possible with a relative mean error of ± 1.55%. The influence of several ions was also investigated.     

Determination of 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (amitrole) in environmental waters by capillary electrophoresis

3-Amino-1,2,4-triazole (amitrole) is a widely used pesticide, with many difficulties to be analyzed at the regulatory level in drinking water, because its high solubility in water. This paper describes a simple and fast method for the simultaneous determination of amitrole and atrazin-2-hydroxy, principal degradation product of s-triazines, by capillary zone electrophoresis. Separation and determination of these herbicides in water samples was performed in 0.02 mol l⁻¹ phosphate buffer at pH 3.2. The method allows determination of the amitrole and atrazin-2-hydroxy in water samples in concentration lower than 100 μg l⁻¹. The detection limits using a previous preconcentration step of amitrole in Alberche River (Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) and drinking water spiked samples was of 4 μg l⁻¹.