Voltammetric Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Melatonin and Pyridoxine in Dietary Supplements Using a Cathodically Pretreated Boron‐doped Diamond Electrode

The simultaneous voltammetric determination of melatonin (MT) and pyridoxine (PY) has been carried out at a cathodically pretreated boron‐doped diamond electrode. By using cyclic voltammetry, a separation of the oxidation peak potentials of both compounds present in mixture was about 0.47 V in Britton‐Robinson buffer, pH 2. The results obtained by square‐wave voltammetry allowed a method to be developed for determination of MT and PY simultaneously in the ranges 1–100 μg mL⁻¹ (4.3×10⁻⁶–4.3×10⁻⁴ mol L⁻¹) and 10–175 μg mL⁻¹ (4.9×10⁻⁵–8.5×10⁻⁴ mol L⁻¹), with detection limits of 0.14 μg mL⁻¹ (6.0×10⁻⁷ mol L⁻¹) and 1.35 μg mL⁻¹ (6.6×10⁻⁶ mol L⁻¹), respectively. The proposed method was successfully to the dietary supplements samples containing these compounds for health‐caring purposes.     

Simultaneous Determination of Three Flavonoids in Rat Plasma by RP-LC After Oral Administration of the Total Flavonoids of Scutellaria barbata

A liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of three flavonoids, scutellarin (SCU), isoscutellarein-8-O-glucuronide (ISO) and luteolin (LUT) in rat plasma was developed and validated. Following a single-step liquid–liquid extraction with ethyl acetate, the analytes and internal standard (IS) (rutin) were successfully separated on a Diamonsil C₁₈ column using a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile (A)–0.2% phosphoric acid aqueous solution (B) (0–5 min, 20% A–29% A; 5–25 min, 29% A, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min^?1. The linear range was 0.044–2.20 μg mL^?1 for SCU, 0.042–2.08 μg mL^?1 for ISO, and 0.056–2.80 μg mL^?1 for LUT, with the correlation coefficients of 0.9995, 0.9989 and 0.9963, respectively. The limit of quantification of SCU, ISO and LUT were 44, 41.6 and 56 ng mL^?1, respectively. The accuracy of assay was between 88.4 and 103.0%. The inter-day and intra-day precisions (RSD) were less than 10.5%. The developed method was simple, rapid and applied successfully to study the pharmacokinetics of SCU, ISO and LUT after oral administration of the total flavonoids of Scutellaria barbata.     

Simple determination of betaine,l‐carnitine and choline in human urine using self‐packed column and column‐switching ion chromatography with nonsuppressed conductivity detection

A sequential online extraction, clean‐up and separation system for the determination of betaine, l ‐carnitine and choline in human urine using column‐switching ion chromatography with nonsuppressed conductivity detection was developed in this work. A self‐packed pretreatment column (50 × 4.6 mm, i.d.) was used for the extraction and clean‐up of betaine, l ‐carnitine and choline. The separation was achieved using self‐packed cationic exchange column (150 × 4.6 mm, i.d.), followed by nonsuppressed conductivity detection. Under optimized experimental conditions, the developed method presented good analytical performance, with excellent linearity in the range of 0.60–100 μg mL⁻¹ for betaine, 0.75–100 μg mL⁻¹ for l ‐carnitine and 0.50–100 μg mL⁻¹ for choline, with all correlation coefficients (R²) >0.99 in urine. The limits of detection were 0.15 μg mL⁻¹ for betaine, 0.20 μg mL⁻¹ for l ‐carnitine and 0.09 μg mL⁻¹ for choline. The intra‐ and inter‐day accuracy and precision for all quality controls were within ±10.32 and ±9.05%, respectively. Satisfactory recovery was observed between 92.8 and 102.0%. The validated method was successfully applied to the detection of urinary samples from 10 healthy people. The values detected in human urine using the proposed method showed good agreement with the measurement reported previously.     

Water Soluble Antioxidant Dextran–Quercetin Conjugate with Potential Anticancer Properties

Quercetin, a naturally occurring potent antioxidant, is limited in therapeutic use, owing to its poor water solubility and stability. Herein, a method of conjugating quercetin to an aldehyde functionalized dextran via an HCl catalyzed condensation reaction to yield a water soluble quercetin functionalized polymer is reported. The prepared conjugate is characterized by ¹H and ¹H‐¹³C heteronuclear single quantum correlation (HSQC) NMR, which demonstrate that conjugation occurs via both the A‐ and B‐rings of quercetin. The degree of quercetin functionalization can be tuned by varying the reaction temperature and/or the concentration of the HCl catalyst. However, as temperatures and HCl concentrations are increased above 40 °C and 2 m , respectively, the increase in functionalization is accompanied by an increase in the oxidation of the conjugated quercetin and a decrease in polymer yield. The prepared conjugate is shown to have improved stability compared with native quercetin while maintaining substantial free‐radical scavenging activity. Anticancer activity is evaluated in vitro in a neuroblastoma cell line. The dextran–aldehyde–quercetin conjugate prepared at 40 °C and 2 m HCl is shown to be cytotoxic to neuroblastoma cells (SH‐SY5Y–IC₅₀ = 123 µg mL⁻¹ and BE(2)‐C–IC₅₀ = 380 µg mL⁻¹) but shows no activity against nonmalignant MRC‐5 cells at concentrations up to 400 µg mL⁻¹.     

Polyaniline Nanowire Arrays Deposited on Porous Carbon Derived from Raffia for Electrochemical Detection of Imidacloprid

An electrochemical sensor based on raffia derived porous carbon (RPC) and polyaniline (PANI) composite functional glass carbon electrode (GCE) was constructed for imidacloprid (IMI) determination. PANI nanowire arrays were deposited on RPC surface uniformly without aggregations. The electrochemical response of IMI at RPC@PANI/GCE is about four times than that at bare GCE, indicating high electrocatalytic activity of RPC@PANI towards IMI reduction. The prepared sensor also offers a wide linear range of 0.1–70 μg mL⁻¹ for IMI determination with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.03 μg mL⁻¹. In addition, it offers high recoveries with testing real samples.     

Drug screening in human plasma by cloud-point extraction and HPLC

Cloud-point extraction (CPE) with RP-HPLC/DAD detection was used to develop a screen for six model basic drugs (paracetamol, promazine, amitriptyline, nortriptyline, clomipramine and chlorpromazine) in human plasma. These drugs’ varied hydrophobicities entail different affinities for the micelle-rich phase and CPE extraction efficiencies. Extraction recovery (except paracetamol) was above 80% and reproducibility (RSD%) ranged from 2.88 to 10.26 intraday and from 3.12 to 12.33 interday. The limits of detection were: 0.125 μg mL^?1 (promazine and chlorpromazine), 0.25 μg mL^?1 (amitriptyline and nortriptyline) and 0.5 μg mL^?1 (paracetamol and clomipramine). The method was linear over the ranges: 0.125–1.0 μg mL^?1 (promazine and chlorpromazine), 0.25–1.0 μg mL^?1 (amitriptyline and nortriptyline), 0.5–1.0 μg mL^?1 (clomipramine) and 0.5–10 μg mL^?1 (paracetamol). The procedure is a good alternative to the SPE or LLE sample preparation usually used.     

In-Syringe Electrokinetic Protein Removal from Biological Samples prior to Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Here, an electrokinetic extraction (EkE) syringe is presented allowing for on-line electrokinetic removal of serum proteins before ESI-MS. The proposed concept is demonstrated by the determination of pharmaceuticals from human serum within minutes, with sample preparation limited to a 5× dilution of the sample in the background electrolyte (BGE) and application of voltage, both of which can be performed in-syringe. Signal enhancements of 3.6–32 fold relative to direct infusion of diluted serum and up to 10.8 fold enhancement, were obtained for basic and acidic pharmaceuticals, respectively. Linear correlations for the basic drugs by EkE-ESI-MS/MS were achieved, covering the necessary clinical range with LOQs of 5.3, 7.8, 6.1, and 17.8 ng mL⁻¹ for clomipramine, chlorphenamine, pindolol, and atenolol, respectively. For the acidic drugs, the EkE-ESI-MS LOQs were 3.1 μg mL⁻¹ and 2.9 μg mL⁻¹ for naproxen and paracetamol, respectively. The EkE-ESI-MS and EkE-ESI-MS/MS methods showed good accuracy (%found of 81 % to 120 %), precision (≤20 %), and linearity (r>0.997) for all the studied drugs in spiked serum samples.     

A new Approach for the Voltammetric Sensing of the Phytoestrogen Genistein at a Non-modified Boron-doped Diamond Electrode

An effective electrochemical sensor was constructed using an unmodified boron-doped diamond electrode for determination of genistein by square-wave voltammetry. Cyclic voltammetric investigations of genistein with HClO₄ solution indicated that irreversible behavior, adsorption-controlled and well-defined two oxidation peaks at about +0.92 (P_A1) & +1.27 V (P_A2). pH, as well as supporting electrolytes, are important in genistein oxidations. Quantification analyses of genistein were conducted using its two oxidation peaks. Using optimized experiments as well as instrumental conditions, the current response with genistein was proportionately linear in the concentrations range of 0.1 to 50.0 μg mL⁻¹ (3.7×10⁻⁷−1.9×10⁻⁴ mol L⁻¹), by the detection limit of 0.023 μg mL⁻¹ (8.5×10⁻⁸ mol L⁻¹) for P_A1 and 0.028 μg mL⁻¹ (1.1×10⁻⁷ mol L⁻¹) for P_A2 in 0.1 mol L⁻¹ HClO₄ solution (in the open circuit condition at 30 s accumulation time). Ultimately, the developed method was effectively applied to detect genistein in model human urine samples by using its second oxidation peak (P_A2).     

Determination of thorium and uranium in activated concrete by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after anion-exchange separation

A sensitive analytical method was established for the determination of Th and U in activated concrete samples. The method combines an anion-exchange separation step with an ICP-MS determination technique. In the ICP-MS measurement, a few μg mL^–1 of Al and Ca, a few ng mL^–1 of Mn, La, Ce, Nd and Pb and pg mL^–1 amounts of Li, Zr, Nb and Ba coexisting in the anion-exchange fraction of Th and U did not interfere. No adverse interference effects were observed in real sample analyses. The obtained detection limits (3σ, n = 10) of Th and U were 2.3 and 1.8 pg mL^–1, respectively. The analytical precisions for ca. 5 μg g^–1 Th and ca. 1 μg g^–1 U in real activated concrete samples were equally less than 7% RSD. The accuracies obtained by the analysis of GSJ rock standard samples were –18.1 to 0.4% for the Th determination and –14.0 to –5.7% for the U determination. The method uses the conventional absolute calibration curve. The internal standard calibration is unnecessary.     

Simultaneous Electrochemical Detection of Co(II) and Cu(II) by 1‐Diazo‐2‐Naphthol‐4‐Sulfonic Acid/MWCNTs Modified Electrode

This work describes a simple preparation of 1‐diazo‐2‐naphthol‐4‐sulfonic acid (1,2,4‐acid) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for the simultaneous detection of Co(II) and Cu(II). MWCNTs, with their good conductivity and large surface area, were drop‐casted onto the surface of the GCE prior to the electrodeposition of 1,2,4‐acid, a metal chelating agent. Co(II) and Cu(II) were simultaneously measured by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV) in a batch system. Under optimum conditions, the linear range of Co(II) was between 0.10 and 2.5 μg mL⁻¹ with an LOD of 80 ng mL⁻¹. Two linear ranges were obtained for Cu(II), 0.0050 to 0.030 μg mL⁻¹ and 0.040 to 0.25 μg mL⁻¹,with an LOD of 2.4 ng mL⁻¹. The method offered a high operational stability for up to 52 measurements (RSD=3.4 % for Co(II) and 2.6 % for Cu(II)) and good reproducibility (RSD=1.2 % for Co(II) and 1.7 % for Cu(II)). In the simultaneous detection of Co(II) and Cu(II), there was no effect from common interferences found in wastewater. The method was successfully applied in real water samples with good recoveries (88.2±0.8 to 102.0±0.8 % for Co(II) and 96.5±0.4 to 103.8±0.9 % for Cu(II)) and the results were in good agreement with those obtained from inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP‐OES) (P >0.05).     

Direct determination of Cu,Mn, Pb,and Zn in beer by thermospray flame furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

In this work, thermospray flame furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (TS-FF-AAS) was employed for Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn determination in beer without any sample digestion. The system was optimized and calibration was based on the analyte addition technique. A sample volume of 300 μl was introduced into the hot Ni tube at a flow-rate of 0.4 ml min⁻¹ using 0.14 mol l⁻¹ nitric acid solution or air as carrier. Different Brazilian beers were directly analyzed after ultrasonic degasification. Results were compared with those obtained by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). The detection limits obtained for Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn in aqueous solution were 2.2, 18, 1.6, and 0.9 μg l⁻¹, respectively. The relative standard deviations varied from 2.7% to 7.3% (n=8) for solutions containing the analytes in the 25–50 μg l⁻¹ range. The concentration ranges obtained for analytes in beer samples were: Cu: 38.0–155 μg l⁻¹; Mn: 110–348 μg l⁻¹, Pb: 13.0–32.9 μg l⁻¹, and Zn: 52.7–226 μg l⁻¹. Results obtained by TS-FF-AAS and GFAAS were in agreement at a 95% confidence level. The proposed method is fast and simple, since sample digestion is not required and sensitivity can be improved without using expensive devices. The TS-FF-AAS presented suitable sensitivity for determination of Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn in the quality control of a brewery.     

Development of an effective extraction process for coenzyme Q10 from Artemia

A method for extracting coenzyme Q₁₀ (CoQ₁₀) from Artemia was developed. 1 g of fresh Artemia was incubated with 75 % acetic acid at (30 ± 2)°C for 24 h, followed by three consecutive extractions with a mixture of 5 mL of hexane and 5 mL of ethanol, then analysis by a validated high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode-array detector. The calibration curve for CoQ₁₀ was linear in a range of 1–50 μg mL^?1. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.3 μg mL^?1 and 1.1 μg mL^?1, respectively. Mean recoveries were 94–100 % with a high precision of below 10 %. The method developed was found to be simple, efficient and the time required for releasing CoQ₁₀ from Artemia was short. The method provides not only low energy consumption but is also practical for industrial applications.     

Specifics of self-organization and properties of highly dilute aqueous solutions of polyoxidonium

Using a combination of physicochemical methods (dynamic and electrophoretic light scattering (DLS and ELS, respectively), nanoparticle tracking analysis, atomic force and transmission electron microscopy (AFM and TEM, respectively), UV spectroscopy, conductometry, pH-metry, dielcometry), it was found that dilute solutions of a multicomponent drug immunomodulator polyoxidonium (PO) are nanoheterogeneous disperse systems, with their disperse phase undergoing considerable restructurings when diluting the solution in the range of calculated concentrations from 1?10–1 to 1?10–16 mg mL–1, which is reflected in the non-monotonous concentration dependencies of specific electroconductivity, dielectric permittivity, and pH of the solutions. Using ELS, AFM, TEM, and UV spectroscopy methods, it was found that the disperse phase with a size of hundreds of nanometers which forms at concentrations of ≤1?10^–5 mg mL^–1, contains organized water structures substantiating the negative values of ζ-potential, which vary non-monotonously from–5 to–16 mV. Radioprotective properties of dilute solutions of PO (1?10^–1 and 1?10^–9 mg mL^–1) were demonstrated for the first time when exposing the test mutant bacterial strain Salmonella typhimurium TA 100 (Ames test) to X-ray radiation in a dose of 7.50 mGy used for medical diagnostics.     

Spectrophotometric Determination of U(VI) with Rifampicin in Soil Samples

A validated spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of uranyl ion in soil samples. The method is based on the complexation reaction between uranyl ion and rifampicin in methanol‐water medium at room temperature. The method is followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the absorbance at 375 nm. Under the optimized experimental conditions, Beer's law is obeyed in the concentration range of 1.35–20.25 μg mL^‐1 with apparent molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity of 8.0 × 10³ L mol^‐1cm^‐1 and 0.042 μg/cm²/0.001 absorbance unit, respectively. The interference of a large number of anions and cations has been investigated and the optimized conditions developed have been utilized for the determination of uranium(VI) in soil samples. The three sigma detection limit (n = 9) for uranyl ion was found to be 0.20 μg mL^‐1. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of uranyl ion in soil samples.     

Electrothermal vaporization coupled with inductively coupled plasma array–detector mass spectrometry for the multielement analysis of Al2O3 ceramic powders

An electrothermal vaporization (ETV) system useful for the analysis of solutions and slurries has been coupled with a sector-field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP–MS) equipped with an array detector. The ability of this instrument to record the transient signals produced for a number of analytes in ETV–ICP–MS is demonstrated. Detection limits for Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Ga are in the range of 4–60 pg μL^− 1 for aqueous solutions and in the low μg g^− 1 range for the analysis of 10 mg mL^− 1 slurries of Al₂O₃ powders. The dynamic ranges measured for Fe, Cu and Ga spanned 3–5 orders of magnitude when the detector was operated in the low-gain mode and appear to be limited by the ETV system. Trace amounts of Fe, Cu and Ga could be directly determined in Al₂O₃ powders at the 2–270 μg g^− 1 level without the use of thermochemical reagents. The results well agree with literature values for Fe and Cu, whereas deviations of 50% at the 90 μg g^− 1 level for Ga were found.     

Development and validation of a generic RP‐HPLC PDA method for the simultaneous separation and quantification of active ingredients in cold and cough medicines

A novel generic reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP‐HPLC) method is developed and validated for simultaneous determination of seven pharmaceutically active ingredients, namely, acetaminophen, dextromethorphan, doxylamine, phenylephrine, guaifenesin, caffeine and aspirin. All seven ingredients were quantified in soft gel, syrup and tablet formulations of the over‐the‐counter US‐marketed products, as per the guidelines of the International Conference on Harmonization. The separation was achieved in a 16 min run time on an Agilent Zorbax Phenyl column using a gradient method with two mobile phases. Mobile phase A was 0.15% trifluoro acetic acid in purified water and while mobile phase B was a mixture of acetonitrile and methanol (750:250 v/v) with 0.02% trifluoro acetic acid. The flow rate was 1.0 mL min^?1 and injection volume was 10 μL. Detection was performed at 280 nm using a photodiode array detector. As part of the method validation, specificity, linearity, precision and recovery parameters were verified. The concentration and area relationships were linear (R² > 0.999), over the concentration ranges 20–120 μg mL^?1 for acetaminophen, 75–450 μg mL^?1 for dextromethorphan, 31.25–187.5 μg mL^?1 for doxylamine, 25–150 μg mL^?1 for phenylephrine, 25–150 μg mL^?1 for aspirin, 6.5–39 μg mL^?1 for caffeine and 12–72 μg mL^?1 for guaifenesin. The relative standard deviations for precision and intermediate precision were <1.5%. The proposed RP‐HPLC generic method is applicable for routine analysis of cold and cough over‐the‐counter products.     

An LC–MS/MS method for rapid and sensitive high‐throughput simultaneous determination of various protein kinase inhibitors in human plasma

A reliable, high‐throughput and sensitive LC–MS/MS procedure was developed and validated for the determination of five tyrosine kinase inhibitors in human plasma. Following their extraction from human plasma, samples were eluted on a RP Luna®‐PFP 100 Å column using a mobile phase system composed of acetonitrile and 0.01 m ammonium formate in water (pH ~4.1) with a ratio of (50:50, v /v) flowing at 0.3 mL min⁻¹. The mass spectrometer was operating with electrospray ionization in the positive ion multiple reaction monitoring mode. The proposed methodology resulted in linear calibration plots with correlation coefficients values of r ² = 0.9995–0.9999 from concentration ranges of 2.5–100 ng mL⁻¹ for imatinib, 5.0–100 ng mL⁻¹ for sorafenib, tofacitinib and afatinib, and 1.0–100 ng mL⁻¹ for cabozantinib. The procedure was validated in terms of its specificity, limit of detection (0.32–1.71 ng mL⁻¹), lower limit of quantification (0.97–5.07 ng mL⁻¹), intra‐ and inter assay accuracy (−3.83 to +2.40%) and precision (<3.37%), matrix effect and recovery and stability. Our results demonstrated that the proposed method is highly reliable for routine quantification of the investigated tyrosine kinase inhibitors in human plasma and can be efficiently applied in the rapid and sensitive analysis of their clinical samples.     

HPLC and UPLC Methods for the Simultaneous Determination of Enalapril and Hydrochlorothiazide in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms

High efficiency and less elution are the basic requirements of high-speed chromatographic separation. In this study, a new gradient reverse phase chromatographic methods were developed using HPLC and UPLC systems for simultaneous determination of enalapril maleate (ENL) and hydrochlorothiazide (HCZ) in pharmaceutical dosage forms. The chromatographic separations of ENL and HCZ were achieved on a Waters μ-Bondapak C 18, (300 × 3.9 mm, 10 μm) and Waters Acquity BEH C18 (100 × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) columns for HPLC within 5.30 min and UPLC within a short retention time of 1.95 min, respectively. A linear response was observed over the concentration range 0.270–399 μg mL⁻¹ of ENL, 0.260–399 μg mL⁻¹ of HCZ for HPLC system and 0.270–399 μg mL⁻¹ of ENL and 0.065–249 μg mL⁻¹ of HCZ for UPLC system. Also, limit of detection for ENL was 1.848 ng mL⁻¹ and 31.477 ng mL⁻¹ for HCZ, 2.804 ng mL⁻¹ for ENL and 2.943 ng mL⁻¹ for HCZ using HPLC and UPLC, respectively. The proposed methods were validated according to ICH guideline with respect to precision, accuracy, and linearity. Forced degradation studies were also performed for both compounds in bulk drug samples to demonstrate the specificity and stability indicating power of the HPLC method. Comparison of system performance with conventional HPLC was made with respect to analysis time, efficiency, and resolution.

     

Determination of nitrophenolate sodium in aquatic products by HPLC–MS/MS with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization

The paper describes an efficient method for the determination of nitrophenolate sodium in aquatic products by HPLC combined with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–APCI-MS/MS). Analytes were extracted from aquatic products by acetonitrile, the extracts were degreased by alumina and concentrated, the concentrated solution was further purified by Oasis HLB cartridge. Finally, the analytes were separated and detected by LC–APCI-MS/MS in negative ion mode. Excellent linearity with correlation coefficients of more than 0.995 was observed in the concentration range of 2–200 μg/L for p-nitrophenol sodium and 2-methoxy-5-nitrophenolate sodium, and 5–200 μg/L for ο-nitrophenol sodium. Recovery rates of nitrophenolate sodium between 86.1–94.3% were achieved. Limit of quantitation of p-nitrophenol sodium and 2-methoxy-5-nitrophenolate sodium was 2 μg/kg and ο-nitrophenol sodium was 5 μg/kg, with relative standard deviations <10%. This method was employed in the practical analysis of spiked and naturally contaminated aquatic products.     

Preconcentration procedure using cloud point extraction in the presence of electrolyte for cadmium determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

This paper describes a micelle-mediated phase separation in the presence of electrolyte as a preconcentration method for cadmium determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Cadmium was complexed with ammonium O,O-diethyldithiophosphate (DDTP) in an acidic medium (0.32 mol l^− 1 HCl) using Triton X-114 as surfactant and quantitatively extracted into a small volume (about 20 μl) of the surfactant-rich phase after centrifugation. The chemical variables that affect the cloud point extraction, such as complexing time (0–20 min), Triton X114 concentration (0.043–0.87% w/v) and complexing agent concentration (0.01–0.1 mol l^− 1), were investigated. The cloud point is formed in the presence of NaCl at room temperature (25 °C), and the electrolyte concentration (0.5–5% w/v) was also investigated. Under optimized conditions, only 8 ml of sample was used in the presence of 0.043% w/v Triton X-114 and 1% (w/v) NaCl. This method permitted limits of detection and quantification of 0.9 μg l^− 1 and 2.9 μg l^− 1 Cd, respectively, and a linear calibration range from 3 to 400 μg l^− 1 Cd. The proposed method was applied to Cd determination in physiological solutions (containing 0.9% (w/v) of NaCl), mineral water, lake water and cigarette samples (tobacco).