A novel fused-silica capillary dropping mercury electrode with long drop-time and its application on determination of critical micelle concentration

A novel long drop time mercury electrode has been constructed from common fused-silica capillary (50 μm I.D., 360 μm E.D.). Proposed device provides reproducible mercury drops with typical lifetime 40-120 s. The electrode was used for a set of electrocapillary measurements aimed at determination of critical micelle concentration of anionic surfactants by a convection controlled drop-time technique. A critical micelle concentration of sodium dodecyl sulfate 5.6 ± 0.4 mmol L⁻¹ and 4.3 ± 0.4 mmol L⁻¹ were obtained in 1 mmol L⁻¹ and 5 mmol L⁻¹ phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), respectively. The values were comparable to those obtained from conductometric measurements under the same conditions (7.0 ± 0.1 mmol L⁻¹ and 5.2 ± 0.1 mmol L⁻¹, respectively) and the difference was explained in accordance with theory of hemi-micelle formation.     

Isotachophoretic determination of hydrosulfite and metabisulfite in technical samples

A method for determination of metabisulfite and hydrosulfite in poultice and decolorant by isotachophoresis was developed. Metabisulfite and hydrosulfite are ionizable oxoanions of sulfur of similar character that can easily be oxidized to sulfates. To protect the analytes from oxidation the solid samples were dissolved in a 1% (w/v) solution of formaldehyde. Hydrosulfite and metabisulfite present in the samples were transformed by the reaction with formaldehyde to stable compounds, hydroxymethanesulfinate and hydroxymethanesulfonate that were determined isotachophoretically without any pretreatment except for sample filtering and degassing. A capillary of 0.4 mm i.d. and 100 mm effective length made of fluorinated ethylene-propylene copolymer was filled with an electrolyte system consisting of 10 mmol L⁻¹ HCl + 11 mmol L⁻¹ imidazole, 0.15% (w/v) hydroxyethylcellulose, pH 6.0 (leading electrolyte) and 5 mmol L⁻¹ benzoic acid + 6 mmol L⁻¹ imidazole, pH 6.5 (terminating electrolyte). Separation was performed at a driving current of 80 μA and for detection current was decreased to 30 μA. Using contactless conductivity detection, the calibration curves in the tested concentration range up to 2.5 mmol L⁻¹ were linear for both metabisulfite and hydrosulfite complexes. The concentration detection limits for metabisulfite and hydrosulfite were 2.9 and 3.4 μmol L⁻¹, respectively. For 1 mmol L⁻¹ concentration, values of R.S.D. (n = 6) were 2.6% for hydrosulfite and 0.8% for metabisulfite. Isotachophoretic determination took about 20 min. The elaborated isotachophoretic procedure is simple to perform, sufficiently sensitive and accurate. In addition to this, low cost of analyses makes the method an alternative procedure to methods used so far for the determination of oxoanions of sulfur.     

Simple and fast spectrophotometric determination of H(2)O(2) in photo-Fenton reactions using metavanadate

This work proposes a spectrophotometric method for the determination of hydrogen peroxide during photodegradation reactions. The method is based on the reaction of H₂O₂ with amonium metavanadate in acidic medium, which results in the formation of a red-orange color peroxovanadium cation, with maximum absorbance at 450 nm. The method was optimized using the multivariate analysis providing the minimum concentration of vanadate (6.2 mmol L⁻¹) for the maximum absorbance signal. Under these conditions, the detection limit is 143 μmol L⁻¹. The reaction product showed to be very stable for samples of peroxide concentrations up to 3 mmol L⁻¹ at room temperature during 180 h. For higher concentrations however, samples must be kept refrigerated (4 °C) or diluted. The method showed no interference of Cl⁻ (0.2-1.3 mmol L⁻¹), NO₃⁻ (0.3-1.0 mmol L⁻¹), Fe³⁺ (0.2-1.2 mmol L⁻¹) and 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP) (0.2-1.0 mmol L⁻¹). When compared to iodometric titration, the vanadate method showed a good agreament. The method was applied for the evaluation of peroxide consumption during photo-Fenton degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol using blacklight irradiation.     

A quick method for the simultaneous determination of ascorbic acid and sorbic acid in fruit juices by capillary zone electrophoresis

A method of quickly determining ascorbic acid and sorbic acid by capillary zone electrophoresis with ultraviolet detection was developed. The choice of background electrolyte, wavelength, injection time and applied voltage were discussed. Ascorbic acid and sorbic acid were well separated in 80 mmol L⁻¹ boric acid-5 mmol L⁻¹borax (pH = 8.0) in 5 min at the detecting wavelength of 270 nm. Under the optimum condition, the method has linear ranges of 2.54-352.00 mg L⁻¹ for ascorbic acid and 1.08-336.39 mg L⁻¹ for sorbic acid with the detection limit of 1.70 mg L⁻¹ for ascorbic acid and 0.54 mg L⁻¹ for sorbic acid, respectively. Other organic acids in fruit juices have no effect on the detection. This method is very feasible and simple and can be used to detect ascorbic acid and sorbic acid in fruit juices.     

Development of a D-amino acids electrochemical sensor based on immobilization of thermostable D-proline dehydrogenase within agar gel membrane

A novel biosensor for determination of d-amino acids (DAAs) in biological samples by using an electrode based on immobilization of a thermostable d-Proline dehydrogenase (d-Pro DH) within an agar gel membrane was developed. The electrode was simply prepared by spin-coating the agar solution with the d-Pro DH on a glassy carbon (GC) electrode.An electrocatalytic oxidation current of 2,6-dichloroindophenol (DCIP) was observed at −100 mV vs. Ag/AgCl with the addition of 5 and 20 mmol L⁻¹d-proline. The current response and its relative standard deviation were 0.15 μA and 7.6% (n = 3), respectively, when it was measured in a pH 8.0 phosphate buffer solution containing 10 mmol L⁻¹d-proline and 0.5 mmol L⁻¹ DCIP at 50 °C. The current response of d-proline increased with increase of the temperature of the sample solution up to 70 °C. The electrocatalytic response at the d-Pro DH/agar immobilized electrode subsequently maintained for 80 days. Finally, the d-Pro DH/agar immobilized electrode was applied to determination of DAAs in a human urine sample. The determined value of DAAs in the human urine and its R.S.D. were 1.39 ± 0.12 mmol L⁻¹ and 8.9% (n = 3), respectively.     

A sensitive post-column photochemical derivatization/fluorimetric detection system for HPLC determination of bisphosphonates

A new reversed-phase ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method has been developed for the determination of the following bisphosphonic acids: alendronic acid (ALEN), etidronic acid (ETID), ibandronic acid (IBAN) and risedronic acid (RISE). Separation was achieved on a C₁₈ column using a mixture of 50 mmol L⁻¹ borate buffer pH 9.0 containing 0.25 mmol L⁻¹ tetrabutylammonium chloride and 0.5 mmol L⁻¹ EDTA and acetonitrile (97:3) as the mobile phase. The sensitive detection of the above bisphosphonic acids was based on their oxidation to orthophosphate by the on-line peroxydisulfate-assisted photolysis followed by post-column reaction with molybdate to yield phosphomolybdate. This subsequently reacted with thiamine to generate thiochrome and, finally, the fluorescence of thiochrome was measured at 440 nm with excitation at 375 nm. The developed method is precise with a mean relative standard deviation of 1.3%, sensitive (with a detection limit at the nmol L⁻¹ level), accurate, specific, rapid (analysis time approximately 13 min) and inexpensive because to the low cost of the reagents. The assay was applied to the analysis of the four bisphosphonic acids in commercial dosage formulations, in which the excipients did not interfere with the determination. The method was also applied to the determination of etidronate, risedronate and ibandronate in human urine. Sample preparation involves precipitation of the analytes from urine along with endogenous phosphates such as calcium salts by addition of calcium chloride at alkaline pH and dissolution of the precipitate in 0.05 mol L⁻¹ ethylene glycol-bis(β-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid.     

Determination of amino acids in Sargassum fusiforme by high performance capillary electrophoresis

High performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) was developed for quantitative determination of 18 phenylthiohydantoin (PTH)-amino acids. The influence of electrolyte concentration, pH, organic modifier and applied voltage on HPCE performance was investigated. The HPCE separation of a PTH-amino acids mixture was much improved by adding organic modifier and Tris-boric acid buffer to the run buffer. After optimization of the method, 17 PTH-amino acids in a solution containing 18 PTH-amino acids could be separated using 400 mmol l⁻¹ Tris-boric acid, 1.0 mmol l⁻¹ diethylamine at pH 9.5 adjusted with 0.1 mol l⁻¹ NaOH as a run buffer, voltage of 25 kV was applied, temperature was maintained at 25 °C, detection wavelength was 254 nm. The precision (n = 7) of this method is less than 3.2% (peak area) and 1.1% (migration time) of relative standard deviation (R.S.D.). Linearity was established over the concentration range 50-1000 μM of each derivative, with correlation coefficients (r) ranging between 0.9904 and 0.9993. The detection limits (S/N = 3) range from 2 to 48 μmol l⁻¹. The method was applied to determine amino acids in Sargassum fusiforme, a marine algae collected from Tongtou County of Zhejiang Province in China with satisfactory results.     

Use of 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol as the post column reagent for ion exchange chromatography of heavy metals in environmental samples

Ion exchange chromatography (IEC) using a bi-functional column (quaternary ammonium and sulfonate groups), followed by post-column reaction (PCR) with 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN), was used to separate and quantitate Cu(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), Co(II), Cd(II), Mn(II) and Hg(II) at low concentration levels. IEC-PCR separation was achieved within 14 min using the mobile phase containing 3 mmol L^− 1 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid (PDCA) and 3 mmol L^− 1 oxalate at pH 12.5. Effects of pH as well as PAN, detergent and chloride ion concentrations during post-column reaction on detector response were examined. Detection limits were less than 4.5 μg L^− 1 for all metals except Hg(II) (19 μg L^− 1) using spectrophotometric measurements at 550 nm. Analytical validations showed good linearity for detection up to 6.0 mg L^− 1, with R² higher than 0.99. Precisions based on retention time evaluation for intra-day and inter-day measurements with the relative standard deviation (RSD) were less than 2.9% and 3.6%, respectively. The method gave good accuracy with the recoveries ranged from 80.5 to 105% for all metal ions studied. The proposed method was applied to the analysis of metal ions in environmental samples (leachate, soil and sediment) in Northeastern Thailand. The results were in good agreement with atomic spectroscopic measurements on the same samples.     

Sequential injection determination of orthophosphate as ion associate of 12-molybdophosphate with Astra Phloxine

A simple and fast reaction between 12-molybdophosphate heteropoly anion and the polymethine dye Astra Phloxine was used for the development of a new SIA method for the determination of orthophosphate. The suggested method has higher sensitivity and a broader calibration range than existing SIA methods. It can be used to detect phosphate in the range from 0.2 to 10 μmol L⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.1 μmol L⁻¹ and an acceptable throughput of 20 samples h⁻¹. The comparably low molybdate (5.6 mmol L⁻¹) and dye (0.1 mmol L⁻¹) concentrations led to an improvement in the stability of the base line. Inter-day reproducibility was better than 5%, while the intra-day RSD was in the range 0.8-3.5%. The method was used for the analysis of natural water samples and phosphorus-containing chemicals having a low content of orthophosphate.     

Sequential injection methodology for carbon speciation in bathing waters

A sequential injection method (SIA) for carbon speciation in inland bathing waters was developed comprising, in a single manifold, the determination of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), free dissolved carbon dioxide (CO₂), total carbon (TC), dissolved organic carbon and alkalinity. The determination of DIC, CO₂ and TC was based on colour change of bromothymol blue (660 nm) after CO₂ diffusion through a hydrophobic membrane placed in a gas diffusion unit (GDU). For the DIC determination, an in-line acidification prior to the GDU was performed and, for the TC determination, an in-line UV photo-oxidation of the sample prior to GDU ensured the conversion of all carbon forms into CO₂. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was determined by subtracting the obtained DIC value from the TC obtained value. The determination of alkalinity was based on the spectrophotometric measurement of bromocresol green colour change (611 nm) after reaction with acetic acid. The developed SIA method enabled the determination of DIC (0.24–3.5 mg C L⁻¹), CO₂ (1.0–10 mg C L⁻¹), TC (0.50–4.0 mg C L⁻¹) and alkalinity (1.2–4.7 mg C L⁻¹ and 4.7–19 mg C L⁻¹) with limits of detection of: 9.5 μg C L⁻¹, 20 μg C L⁻¹, 0.21 mg C L⁻¹, 0.32 mg C L⁻¹, respectively. The SIA system was effectively applied to inland bathing waters and the results showed good agreement with reference procedures.     

A novel approach in dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on the use of an auxiliary solvent for adjustment of density: UV-VIS spectrophotometric and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometric determination of gold based on ion pair formation

This paper presents a novel approach to dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME), based on the use of an auxiliary solvent for the adjustment of density. The procedure utilises a solvent system consisting of a dispersive solvent, an extraction solvent and an auxiliary solvent, which allows for the use of solvents having a density lower than that of water as an extraction solvent while preserving simple phase separation by centrifugation. The suggested approach could be an alternative to procedures described in the literature in recent months and which have been devoted to solving the same problem. The efficiency of the suggested approach is demonstrated through the determination of gold based on the formation of the ion pair [Au(CN)₂]⁻ anion with Astra Phloxine (R) reagent and its extraction using the DLLME procedure with subsequent UV-VIS spectrophotometric and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometric detection. The optimum conditions were found to be: pH 3; 0.8 mmol L⁻¹ K₄[Fe(CN)₆]; 0.12 mmol L⁻¹ R; dispersive solvent, methanol; extraction solvent, toluene; auxiliary solvent, tetrachloromethane. The calibration plots were linear in the ranges 0.39-4.7 mg L⁻¹ and 0.5-39.4 μg L⁻¹ for UV-VIS and GFAAS detection, respectively; thus enables the application of the developed method in two ranges differing from one from another by three orders of magnitude. The presented approach can be applied to the development of DLLME procedures for the determination of other compounds extractable by organic solvents with a density lower than that of water.     

Determination of various alcohols based on a new immobilized enzyme fluorescence capillary analysis

A novel method for the determination of ethanol in tequila based on the immobilized enzyme fluorescence capillary analysis (IE-EFCA) has been proposed. Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) was immobilized in inner surface of a capillary and an immobilized enzyme capillary bioreactor (IE-ECBR) was formed. After nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) as an oxidizer is mixed with alcohol sample solution, it was sucked into the IE-ECBR. The fluorescence intensity of the mixed solution in the IE-ECBR was detected at λ_ex = 350 nm and λ_em = 459 nm. The experimental conditions are as follows: The reaction time is 20 min; temperature is 40 °C; the concentrations of phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.5) and NAD⁺ are 0.1 mol L⁻¹ and 5 mmol L⁻¹, respectively; immobilization concentration of ADH is 10 U L⁻¹. The determination range of ethanol is 2.0-15.0 g L⁻¹ (F = 10.44C + 6.6002, r > 0.9958); its detection limit is 1.11 g L⁻¹; and relative standard deviation is 1.9%. IE-EFCA method is applicable for the determination of the samples containing alcohol in medicine, industry and environment.     

A clean method for flow injection spectrophotometric determination of cyclamate in table sweeteners

A flow system based on the multicommutation is proposed for fast and clean determination of cyclamate. The procedure exploits the reaction of cyclamate with nitrite in acidic medium and the spectrophotometric determination of the excess of nitrite by iodometry. The flow system was designed with a set of solenoid micro-pumps to minimize reagent consumption and waste generation. The detection limit was estimated as 30 μmol L⁻¹ (99.7% confidence level) with linear response ranging up to 3.0 mmol L⁻¹. The coefficient of variation was estimated as 1.7% for a solution containing 2.0 mmol L⁻¹ cyclamate (n = 20). About 60 samples can be analyzed per hour, consuming only 3 mg KI and 1.3 μg NaNO₂, and generating 2.0 mL of effluent per determination, thus providing an environmentally friendly alternative to previously proposed procedures. Common artificial and natural sweeteners did not interfere when present in concentrations 10-times higher than cyclamate. The procedure was successfully applied for determination of cyclamate in artificial table sweeteners with results in agreement with the reference method at the 95% confidence level.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic method for determination of amino acids by precolumn derivatization with 4-chloro-3,5-dinitrobenzotrifluoride

This work presents an high-performance liquid chromatography method for the determination of amino acids after precolumn derivatization with 4-chloro-3,5-dinitrobenzotrifluoride (CNBF) which can readily react with both primary and secondary amines. The precolumn derivatization conditions, including the CNBF concentration, reaction pH, temperature and reaction time were investigated for method optimization. In pH 9.0 borate buffer, the reaction of amino acids with CNBF was carried out at 60 °C for 30 min, the optimized concentration of CNBF was 70 mmol L⁻¹ and the molar ratio of amino acids to CNBF was 1:5.25. The chromatographic separation of 19 amino acids derivatives was performed on a Kromasil ODS C₁₈ column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with good reproducibility, and ultraviolet detection was applied at 260 nm. The mobile phase was a mixture of phase A (acetonitrile) and phase B (acetate buffer, acetonitrile, triethylamine; 82.8:17:0.2, pH 4.9), and the flow rate was 0.4 mL min⁻¹. The separation of all the labeled amino acids was achieved within 45 min at room temperature by gradient elution mode. The method linearity, calculated for each amino acid, had a correlation coefficient higher than 0.9979, in concentrations ranging from 9.60 to 3330.00 μmol L⁻¹. The detection limits of amino acids were 2.40-6.50 μmol L⁻¹, at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The proposed method was applied for the determination of amino acids in beer with recoveries of 97.0-103.9% and relative standard deviations of 2.62-4.22%, respectively. This method showed good accuracy and repeatability that can be used for the quantification of amino acids in real samples.     

An analytical application of the electrocatalysis of the iodate reduction at tungsten oxide films

Films of non-stoichiometric tungsten oxides have been deposited onto glassy carbon surfaces by electrodeposition from acidic W(VI) solutions and the chemical stability of these oxides was investigated by using the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance. At these modified surfaces, rotating disc electrode voltammetric experiments indicated that iodate is electrocatalytically reduced in a mass-transport controlled process. The influence of the film thickness on the response to iodate was investigated and the results indicated a linear relationship between catalytic current and film thickness for relatively thin oxide layers. The modified electrode was employed successfully as an amperometric sensor for iodate in a flow injection apparatus. The linear response of the developed method is extended from 5 μmol L⁻¹ to 5 mmol L⁻¹ iodate with a limit of detection (signal-to-noise = 3) of 1.2 μmol L⁻¹. The repeatability of the method for 41 injections of a 1 mmol L⁻¹ iodate solution was 0.8% and the throughput was determined as 123 h⁻¹. Interference from other oxidant anions such as nitrate and nitrite was not noticeable, whereas bromate and chlorate interfere at slight levels. The method was used in the determination of the iodate content in table salt samples.     

A rapid quantitative method for humic substances determination in natural waters

A simple and rapid method was proposed for humic substances (HS) determination at microgram levels in natural waters. This assay method is based on the binding of a dye, Toluidine Blue (TB), to HS molecules to produce a dye-HS complex, which causes a decrease in absorbance at 630 nm. This method was calibrated with HS samples with up to a concentration of 40 mg L⁻¹, which covered the range of dissolved HS concentrations present in natural waters. The detection limit was 0.8 mg L⁻¹ of HS, and the relative standard deviation of 10 replicate measurements for a 20-mg L⁻¹ standard sample was 3.5%. From the Langmuir adsorption isotherm theory, the binding equilibrium constant and total number of binding sites at neutral pH were calculated to be (8.17 ± 0.42) × 10⁵ L mol⁻¹ and N of 1.45 ± 0.04 mmol g⁻¹ HS, respectively. The determination results with five water samples from lake, river and pond were consistent with those measured with the reference methods, demonstrating that this quantification method for HS determination was rapid, sensitive and feasible.     

Development of a fast capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of propranolol—Total analysis time reduction strategies

The aim of this study was to develop a fast capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of propranolol in pharmaceutical preparations. In the method development the pH and constituents of the background electrolyte were selected using the effective mobility versus pH curves. Benzylamine was used as the internal standard. The background electrolyte was composed of 60 mmol L⁻¹ tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane and 30 mmol L⁻¹ 2-hydroxyisobutyric acid, at pH 8.1. Separation was conducted in a fused-silica capillary (32 cm total length and 8.5 cm effective length, 50 μm I.D.) with a short-end injection configuration and direct UV detection at 214 nm. The run time was only 14 s. Three different strategies were studied in order to develop a fast CE method with low total analysis time for propranolol analysis: low flush time (Lflush) 35 runs/h, without flush (Wflush) 52 runs/h, and Invert (switched polarity) 45 runs/h. Since the three strategies developed are statistically equivalent, Wflush was selected due to the higher analytical frequency in comparison with the other methods. A few figures of merit of the proposed method include: good linearity (R² > 0.9999); limit of detection of 0.5 mg L⁻¹; inter-day precision better than 1.03% (n = 9) and recovery in the range of 95.1–104.5%.     

Development of a spectrophotometric Sequential Injection Analysis (SIA) procedure for determination of ammonium: A Response Surface Methodology (RSM) approach

This paper describes the optimization and use of a Sequential Injection Analysis (SIA) procedure for ammonium determination in waters. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used as a tool for optimization of a procedure based on the modified Berthelot reaction. The SIA system was designed to (i) prepare the reaction media by injecting an air-segmented zone containing the reagents in a mixing chamber, (ii) to aspirate the mixture back to the holding coil after homogenization, (iii) drive it to a thermostated reaction coil, where the flow is stopped for a previously established time, and (iv) to pump the mixture toward the detector flow cell for the spectrophotometric measurements. Using a 100 μmol L^− 1 ammonium solution, the following factors were considered for optimization: reaction temperature (25 - 45 °C), reaction time (30 - 90 s), hypochlorite concentration (20 - 40 mmol L^− 1), nitroprusside concentration (10 - 40 mmol L^− 1) and salicylate concentration (0.1 - 0.3 mol L^− 1). The proposed system fed the statistical program with absorbance data for fast construction of response surface plots. After optimization of the method, figures of merit were evaluated, as well as the ammonium concentration in some water samples. No evidence of statistical difference was observed in the results obtained by the proposed method in comparison to those obtained by a reference method based on the phenol reaction.     

Implementing stepwise solvent elution in sequential injection chromatography for fluorimetric determination of intracellular free amino acids in the microalgae Tetraselmis gracilis

The concept of sequential injection chromatography (SIC) was exploited to automate the fluorimetric determination of amino acids after pre-column derivatization with o-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) in presence of 2-mercaptoethanol (2MCE) using a reverse phase monolithic C₁₈ stationary phase. The method is low-priced and based on five steps of isocratic elutions. The first step employs the mixture methanol: tetrahydrofuran: 10 mmol L⁻¹ phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) at the volumetric ratio of 8:1:91; the other steps use methanol: 10 mmol L⁻¹ phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) at volumetric ratios of 20:80, 35:65, 50:50 and 65:35. At a flow rate of 10 μL s⁻¹ a 25 mm long-column was able to separate aspartic acid (Asp), glutamic acid (Glu), asparagine (Asn), serine (Ser), glutamine (Gln), glycine (Gly), threonine (Thr), citruline (Ctr), arginine (Arg), alanine (Ala), tyrosine (Tyr), phenylalanine (Phe), ornithine (Orn) and lysine (Lys) with resolution >1.2 as well as methionine (Met) and valine (Val) with resolution of 0.6. Under these conditions isoleucine (Ile) and leucine (Leu) co-eluted. The entire cycle of amino acids derivatization, chromatographic separation and column conditioning at the end of separation lasted 25 min. At a flow rate of 40 μL s⁻¹ such time was reduced to 10 min at the cost of resolution worsening for the pairs Ctr/Arg and Orn/Lys. The detection limits varied from 0.092 μmol L⁻¹ for Tyr to 0.51 μmol L⁻¹ for Orn. The method was successfully applied to the determination of intracellular free amino acids in the green alga Tetraselmis gracilis during a period of seven days of cultivation. Samples spiked with known amounts of amino acids resulted in recoveries between 94 and 112%.     

Development of a flow system for the determination of cadmium in fuel alcohol using vermicompost as biosorbent and flame atomic absorption spectrometry

In this study a method for the determination of cadmium in fuel alcohol using solid-phase extraction with a flow injection analysis system and detection by flame atomic absorption spectrometry was developed. The sorbent material used was a vermicompost commonly used as a garden fertilizer. The chemical and flow variables of the on-line preconcentration system were optimized by means of a full factorial design. The selected factors were: sorbent mass, sample pH, buffer concentration and sample flow rate. The optimum extraction conditions were obtained using sample pH in the range of 7.3-8.3 buffered with tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane at 50 mmol L⁻¹, a sample flow rate of 4.5 mL min⁻¹ and 160 mg of sorbent mass. With the optimized conditions, the preconcentration factor, limit of detection and sample throughput were estimated as 32 (for preconcentration of 10 mL sample), 1.7 μg L⁻¹ and 20 samples per hour, respectively. The analytical curve was linear from 5 up to at least 50 μg L⁻¹, with a correlation coefficient of 0.998 and a relative standard deviation of 2.4% (35 μg L⁻¹, n = 7). The developed method was successfully applied to spiked fuel alcohol, and accuracy was assessed through recovery tests, with recovery ranging from 94% to 100%.