Atom-trapping absorption spectrometry with water-cooled metal collector tubes

Water-cooled metal collector tubes for atom-trapping atomic absorption spectrometry in air—acetylene flames are discussed, particularly for the more volatile elements such as cadmium and selenium which may be less efficiently trapped at the hotter surface of a silica tube. It was found that a nickel tube gave 3 times greater sensitivity than silica for the determination of cadmium but was oniy half as sensitive for the determination of selenium. No atomic absorption signal for copper could be obtained with a nickel collector tube. A copper tube was 3–4 times more sensitive than nickel for cadmium and selenium. Similar effects were observed for cadmium solutions containing 1000 ppm copper or nickel, and for selenium solutions containing 1000 ppm copper, with silica atom-trap tubes, but in both cases better results were obtained when the analyte solution of cadmium or selenium contained the co-element (1000 ppm) than when the cadmium or selenium was measured with a silica tube previously metallized with the co-element.     

Preconcentration of copper with dithizone-naphthalene for subsequent determination by atomic absorption spectrometry

A simple and convenient method for the separation and preconcentration of copper from aqueous samples has been developed. The procedure is based on the chemical sorption of copper(II) onto a column packed with immobilized dithizone on microcrystalline naphthalene. The trapped copper is eluted with 10 mL of 4 M nitric acid and determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. A preconcentration factor of 200 was obtained for a volume of 2 L. The relative standard deviation for the determination of 5 and 10 μg/L copper was 2.2 and 1.7%, respectively. The procedure was successfully applied to the determination of copper in water and alloy samples. The accuracy was assessed through the analysis of certified reference materials or recovery experiments. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Determination of ethambutol in pharmaceutical preparations by atomic absorption spectrometry,spectrophotometry and potentiometry

Simple methods are described for the determination of ethambutol in pharmaceutical preparations. They are based on the reaction of the drug with copper phosphate suspension in a borate buffer of pH 9.2, whereby a blue 11 water-soluble copper-ethambutol complex is quantitatively formed. Four portions of the reaction solution are used for (i) measurement of copper by atomic-absorption spectrometry at 324.7 nm; (ii) potentiometric titration with EDTA with use of a solid-state copper ion-selective electrode; (iii) visual titration with EDTA (copper-PAN indicator); and (iv) spectrophotometric measurement of the copper-ethambutol complex at 640 nm. The results obtained are in good agreement and are better than those of the British Pharmacopoeia (BP) method.     

Determination of copper and zinc in serum by derivative atomic absorption spectrometry using the microsampling technique

A method has been developed for the determination of copper and zinc in the serum of rats by derivative microsampling flame atomic absorption spectrometry (D-MFAAS). The microsampling volume, solution uptake rate and other figures of merit of the proposed methodology were studied. For a 100 microl volume, the characteristic concentrations and detection limits (3s) of D-MFAAS were 0.023 and 0.013 microg ml(-1) for copper and 0.0066 and 0.0080 microg ml(-1) for zinc, which were 4.5-6.5-fold better than those of microsampling flame atomic absorption spectrometry (MFAAS). The detection limits and sensitivities of D-MFAAS were 6.4- and 16-fold for 300 microl volume for copper, 14- and 13-fold for 250 microl volume for zinc, better than those of MFAAS. The method demonstrates high tolerance to interferences, and the analytical results obtained for a certified reference material, GBW 08551 Pork Liver, were in good agreement with the certified values. The recovery with the standard additions method was good, in the range 97.6-101.5%, and precisions (relative standard deviations) obtained for a diluent sample containing 0.5 microg ml(-1) copper and 0.7 microg ml(-1) zinc were 4.0% and 3.5% (n = 15) for copper and zinc, respectively.     

Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric determination of copper and zinc in high-purity bismuth after thiocyanate extraction

Copper and zinc (0.01–1 μg g^?1)in high-purity bismuth are extracted together as their thiocyanate complexes into methyl isobutyl ketone and determined by atomic absorption spectrometry with a tungsten-strip atomizer. The concentrations of copper found by the proposed method agree well with the values obtained by similar atomic absorption spectrometric methods involving prior extraction of copper as its bathocuproine or diethyldithiocarbamate complex.     

The determination of minor amounts of copper in iron and steel by atomic absorption spectrophotometry

A procedure is described for the determination of 0.001 to 0.30% of copper in low and high alloy irons and steels by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The sample is dissolved in phosphoric-sulphuric acid before being atomised. The method is rapid and free from interference and preliminary separations are not required. Results obtained on standard samples are in good agreement with certificate values.     

Determination of trace metals in polymers by flameless atomic absorption with a solid sampling technique

A method for determining trace metals in polymers which combines flameless atomic absorption with a solid sampling technique is described. The method is applied to the analysis of iron, copper and chromium and is compared with results obtained from analysis of solutions of the polymers. Optimal conditions for achieving maximal accuracy and sensitivity are discussed. The effects of various matrix interferences and the heterogeneous distribution of trace metals in polymers are discussed.     

Flow injection and microwave-oven sample decomposition for determination of copper,zinc and iron in whole blood by atomic absorption spectrometry

A simple and rapid method is proposed for the determination of copper, zinc and iron in whole blood. The injected sample is mineralized in the flow system on passage through a microwve oven and the metals are determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Prior sample destruction or removal of organic material prior to injection is not necessary. The required volumes for each analysis are 90, 60 and 100 μl for copper, zinc and iron, respectively. The relative standard deviations were less than 3% in all cases. There was good agreement between the results obtained with the flow-injection method and those attained by conventional spectrophotometric measurements.     

Slurry sampling for the rapid determination of cobalt, nickel and copper in soils and sediments by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Electrothermal atomic absorption procedures for the rapid determination of cobalt, nickel and copper in soil and sediment samples are presented. The samples are suspended in a hydrofluoric acid solution before being injected into the electrothermal atomizer. Prior mild heating in a microwave oven is recommended for nickel and copper determination. No modifier other than hydrofluoric acid is required. The conventional ashing step is unnecessary since the fast-heating programmes lead to well defined atomization profiles with low background levels that can be corrected using a common deuterium device. Calibration is performed directly using aqueous standards. The results obtained for six certified reference materials confirm the reliability of the procedures.     

Echelle-spectrometer/image-dissector system for elemental quantitation by continuous-source atomic absorption spectrometry

The performance of an echelle-spectrometer/image-dissector system is evaluated for elemental quantitation by continuous-source atomic absorption spectrometry. Flame and graphite-furnace atomizers were used, as well as two different spectrometer configurations. Quantitative results obtained with the flame atomizer and a low-resolution spectrometer configuration are discussed briefly; results obtained with the graphite-furnace atomizer and a higher-resolution configuration are presented in detail. Absorption sensitivities for calcium (422.7 nm), chromium (425.4 and 357.9 nm), copper (324.8 nm), and manganese (403.1 and 279.5 nm) were all within a factor of 4–6 of comparable line- source absorption sensitivities, and calibration curves were linear up to absorbances of about 0.1. Further development of the system for simultaneous multi-element quantitation is discussed.     

Pre-concentration procedure for determination of copper and zinc in food samples by sequential multi-element flame atomic absorption spectrometry

In this paper is proposed a simultaneous pre-concentration procedure using cloud point extraction for the determination of copper and zinc in food samples employing sequential multi-element flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FS-FAAS). The reagent used is 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) and the micellar phase is obtained using the non-ionic surfactant octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-114) and centrifugation. The optimization step was performed using Box-Behnken design for three factors: solution pH, reagent concentration and buffer concentration. A multiple response function was established in order to get an experimental condition for simultaneous extraction of copper and zinc. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the method allows the determination of copper with a limit of detection (3sigma(b)/S, LOD) of 0.1 microg L(-1), precision expressed as relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of 2.1 and 1.3% (N=10), for copper concentrations of 10 and 50 microg L(-1), respectively. Zinc is determined with a LOD of 0.15 microg L(-1) and precision as R.S.D. of 2.7 and 1.7% for concentrations of 10 and 50 microg L(-1), respectively. The enhancement factors obtained were 36 and 32 for copper and zinc, respectively. The accuracy was assessed by analysis of certified reference materials, namely, SRM 1567a - Wheat Flour and SRM 8433 - Corn Bran from National Institute of Standards & Technology and BCR 189-wholemeal flour from Institute of Reference Materials and Measurements. The method was applied to the determination of copper and zinc in oats, powdered chocolate, corn flour and wheat flour samples. The copper content in the samples analyzed varied from 1.14 to 3.28 microg g(-1) and zinc from 8.7 to 22.9 microg g(-1).     

Preconcentration and atomic absorption determination of copper traces in waters by on-line adsorption-elution on an activated carbon minicolumn

A continuous preconcentration method for the determination of trace copper in waters was developed. Ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate is used to form a chelate which is adsorbed on an activated carbon minicolumn and desorbed with 200 mul of methyl isobutyl ketone. The organic extract is driven by a water stream to an atomic absorption spectrometer. By using a time-based technique equivalent to from 1.5 to 4.5 ml of sample, preconcentration factors between 35 and 100, respectively, are achieved. The flow system is quite simple and rapid, and provides highly precise results (RSD 1.8-3.5%). The results obtained in the determination of copper in waters show the usefulness of the proposed method.     

Analysis of mixtures of compounds of copper using K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Summary A determination is described of copper metal, oxide, and hydroxide in samples containing both nickel and copper. The analysis was based on K-edge x-ray absorption spectra of the copper. This allowed us to consider the chemical states of copper and ignore the nickel also present. The method involved fitting linear combinations of copper standard spectra to the spectrum from copper in the sample. The fit composition that minimized the variance gave the sample composition. The work demonstrated that K-edge x-ray absorption spectra are sufficiently characteristic to allow their use for quantification of components in mixtures. This method of analysis is complemented by diffraction and less general techniques. It is a strength of x-ray absorption edge analysis that it is element-specific and applicable to most elements maintained under any conditions of temperatures, pressure, and atmosphere.     

Use of silica gel chemically modified with zirconium phosphate for preconcentration and determination of lead and copper by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

An analytical method using silica gel chemically modified with zirconium (IV) phosphate for preconcentration of lead and copper, in a column system, and their sequential determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS), was developed. Sample solutions are passed through a glass column packed with 100 mg of the sorbent material, at pH 4.5, and lead and copper are eluted with 1.0 mol l⁻¹ HNO₃ at a flow rate of 2.0 ml min⁻¹. The extraction of copper is affected by Fe(II), Mn(II), Zn(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) while only Fe(II) interferes in the lead determination. These interferences may be overcome with an appropriate addition of a KI or NaF solution. An enrichment factor of 30 was obtained for both metals. While the limits of detection (3σ) were 6.1 and 1.1 μg l⁻¹, for Pb and Cu, respectively, the limits of determination were 16.7 and 3.3 μg l⁻¹. The precision expressed as relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) obtained for 3.3 μg l⁻¹ of Cu and 16.7 μg l⁻¹ of Pb were 4.3 and 4.7%, respectively, calculated from ten measurements. The proposed method was evaluated with reference material and was applied for the determination of lead and copper in industrial and river waters.     

Determination of traces of lead,cadmium and zinc in copper by an arc-nebulization and flame atomic absorption technique

Arc-nebulization (a thermal nebulization technique) is used to form an aerosol of cadmium, lead and zinc. An open arc chamber of simple operation and an ejector of high efficiency are described which are adaptable for use with any flame atomic absorption spectrometer. Limits of detection better by one or two orders of magnitude than those achieved by conventional flame a.a.s. methods were obtained viz., 43 ng Pb, 5 ng Cd, 7 ng Zn (equivalent to 0.7, 0.08 and 0.11 ppm, respectively, in copper). Calibration with matrix-free solutions was possible for lead and cadmium but not for zinc. The spectral interference of copper on absorbance at the most sensitive zinc line (213.856nm) and the efficiency of arc nebulization of cadmium are also discussed.     

Determination of heavy metals in soil, mushroom and plant samples by atomic absorption spectrometry

The concentrations of heavy metals in the soil, mushroom and plant samples collected from Tokat, Turkey have been determined by flame and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry after dry ashing, wet ashing and microwave digestion. The study of sample preparation procedures showed that the microwave digestion method was the best. Good accuracy was assured by the analysis of standard reference materials. The relative standard deviations for all measured metal concentrations were lower than 10%. In all cases, quantitative analytical recoveries ranging from 95 to 103% were obtained. Metal accumulation factors were calculated for mushroom and plant samples. High ratio of plants to soil cadmium, zinc and copper concentrations indicate that these elements are accumulated by mushrooms. Results obtained are in agreement with data reported in the literature.     

Preconcentration of copper with multi-walled carbon nanotubes pretreated by potassium permanganate cartridge for solid phase extraction prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry

A procedure for the preconcentration of copper was described in this paper using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) oxidized by potassium permanganate as the adsorbent for the enrichment of trace copper in water samples. Important parameters, such as the sample pH, the concentration and volume of eluent, sample flow rate and volume, and interference of coexisting ions, were investigated. The obtained results indicated that proposed method possessed an excellent analytical performance. The linear range, the detection limit, and precison (RSD) were 1-100 ng/mL (R2 = 0.9993), 0.32 ng/mL and 2.88%, respectively. The results showed that copper could be adsorbed quantitatively on the pretreated MWCNTs with potassium permanganate, and proposed method was very useful in the monitoring of copper in the environment.     

Application of Doehlert designs for optimisation of an on-line preconcentration system for copper determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

In the present paper, a system for on-line preconcentration and determination of copper by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) was developed. It was based on solid phase extraction of copper(II) ions on a minicolumn of Amberlite XAD-2 loaded with 2-(2-thiazolylazo)-5-dimethylaminophenol (TAM). The optimisation process was carried out using Doehlert designs. Four variables (sampling flow rate, SR; elution flow rate, buffer concentration, BC; and pH) were regarded as factors in the optimisation. The parameter “sensitivity efficiency (SE)” proposed in this paper, and defined as the analytical signal obtained for an on-line enrichment system for a preconcentration time of 1 min was used as analytical response in the optimisation process. Using the established experimental conditions, the proposed on-line system allowed determination of copper with detection limit (3σ/S) of 0.23 μg l⁻¹, and a precision (repeatability), calculated as relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of 3.9 and 3.7% for copper concentration of 5.00 and 20.00 μg l⁻¹, respectively. The preconcentration factor obtained is 62. The recovery achieved for copper determination in presence of several cations demonstrated that this has enough selectivity for analysis of food samples. The robustness of the proposed system was also evaluated. The accuracy was confirmed by analysis of the following certified reference materials (CRMs): Rice flour NIES 10a, Spinach leaves NIST 1570a, Apples leaves NIST 1515 and Orchard leaves NBS 1571. This procedure was applied for copper determination in natural food samples.     

Atomic absorption spectrometric determination of copper in calcium carbonate scale and carbonate rocks by direct atomization of solid samples

Powdered samples (1 mg) are mixed with 1 mg of powdered graphite and copper is determined by atomic absorption spectrometry in a miniature graphite cup placed in a graphite crucible. Optimum conditions were drying at 200 °C (30 s), ashing at 900 °C (30 s), atomizing at 2700 °C (15 s) and cleaning at 2800 °C (10 s). Samples were powdered to 1–10 μm particle size. Magnesium, manganese and iron did not interfere. The effect of calcium carbonate was eliminated by the graphite addition. Results for copper (0.5–5 μg g^?1) in the scale and rocks agreed well with values obtained for dissolved samples. Relative standard deviations (n=10) were 4.9% for 1.2 μg g^?1 copper and 14.8% for 0.577 μg g^?1.     

Coupled gas chromatography-atomic absorption spectrometry.

The specific, precise detection of volatile metal chelates has been obtained by coupling the effluent from a gas chromatograph directly to the burner head of a commerical atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). Quantitation of chromium in the nanogram range has been accomplished with a detection limit of 1.0 ng. The chelation-extraction-gas chromatographic separation procedure coupled with the selective detection by AAS gives a relatively interference-free system that has been used to quantitatively analyse for chromium in standard biological materials NBS SRM 1571 Orchard Leaves and SRM 1569 Brewers Yeast. Metal chelates of iron, copper and cobalt have also been detected by this system.