A multisyringe flow-through sequential extraction system for on-line monitoring of orthophosphate in soils and sediments

A fully automated flow-through microcolumn fractionation system with on-line post-extraction derivatization is proposed for monitoring of orthophosphate in solid samples of environmental relevance. The system integrates dynamic sequential extraction using 1.0 mol l⁻¹ NH₄Cl, 0.1 mol l⁻¹ NaOH and 0.5 mol l⁻¹ HCl as extractants according to the Hieltjes-Lijklema (HL) scheme for fractionation of phosphorus associated with different geological phases, and on-line processing of the extracts via the Molybdenum Blue (MB) reaction by exploiting multisyringe flow injection as the interface between the solid containing microcolumn and the flow-through detector. The proposed flow assembly, capitalizing on the features of the multicommutation concept, implies several advantages as compared to fractionation analysis in the batch mode in terms of saving of extractants and MB reagents, shortening of the operational times from days to hours, highly temporal resolution of the leaching process and the capability for immediate decision for stopping or proceeding with the ongoing extraction. Very importantly, accurate determination of the various orthophosphate pools is ensured by minimization of the hydrolysis of extracted organic phosphorus and condensed inorganic phosphates within the time frame of the assay. The potential of the novel system for accommodation of the harmonized protocol from the Standards, Measurement and Testing (SMT) Program of the Commission of the European Communities for inorganic phosphorus fractionation was also addressed. Under the optimized conditions, the lowest detectable concentration at the 3σ level was ≤0.02 mg P l⁻¹ for both the HL and SMT schemes regardless of the extracting media. The repeatability of the MB assay was better than 2.5% and the dynamic linear range extended up to 7.0 mg P l⁻¹ in NH₄Cl and NaOH media and 15 mg P l⁻¹ whenever HCl is utilized as extractant for both the HL and SMT protocols.     

Flow-through solid-phase based optical sensor for the multisyringe flow injection trace determination of orthophosphate in waters with chemiluminescence detection

In this work, a novel flow-through solid-phase based chemiluminescence (CL) optical sensor is described for the trace determination of orthophosphate in waters exploiting the multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) concept with multicommutation. The proposed time-based injection flow system relies upon the in-line derivatisation of the analyte with ammonium molybdate in the presence of vanadate, and the transient immobilisation of the resulting heteropolyacid in a N-vinylpyrrolidone/divinylbenzene copolymer packed spiral shape flow-through cell located in front of the window of a photomultiplier tube. The simultaneous injection of well-defined slugs of luminol in alkaline medium and methanol solution towards the packed reactor is afterwards performed by proper switching of the solenoid valves. Then, the light emission from the luminol oxidation by the oxidant species retained onto the sorbent material is readily detected. At the same time, the generated molybdenum-blue compound is eluted by the minute amount of injected methanol, rendering the system prepared for a new measuring cycle. Therefore, the devised sensor enables the integration of the solid-phase CL reaction with elution and detection of the emitted light without the typical drawbacks of the molybdenum-blue based spectrophotometric procedures regarding the excess of molybdate anion, which causes high background signals due to its self-reduction. The noteworthy features of the developed CL-MSFIA system are the feasibility to accommodate reactions with different pH requirements and the ability to determine trace levels of orthophosphate in high silicate content samples (Si/P ratios up to 500). Under the optimised conditions, a dynamic linear range from 5 to 50 μg P l⁻¹ for a 1.8 ml sample, repeatability better than 3.0% and a quantification limit of 4 μg P l⁻¹ were attained. The flowing stream system handles 11 analysis h⁻¹ and has been successfully applied to the determination of trace levels of orthophosphate in environmental samples such as mineral, ground, tap and pond waters as well as samples from a water-steam cycle of an incineration plant. The t-test comparison of the means for the developed optical sensor and the molybdenum-blue spectrophotometric APHA/AWWA/WPCF reference method revealed that there is no evidence of significant differences between the obtained results at the 95% confidence level.     

Multicommutation flow techniques in the hydride generation-atomic fluorescence determination of arsenic

This review outlines automated methodologies developed for measuring arsenic in environmental samples. We report the state of the art of the most significant methods exploiting multicommutation flow techniques coupled to hydride generation-atomic fluorescence determination. We review analytical methods used and present a comparative evaluation of them. We also discuss the on-line pre-concentration procedure as being of particular interest in the development of fully automated methods.     

An environmental friendly method for the automatic determination of hypochlorite in commercial products using multisyringe flow injection analysis

A multisyringe flow injection analysis system was used for the determination of hypochlorite in cleaning agents, by measurement of the native absorbance of hypochlorite at 292 nm. The methodology was based on the selective decomposition of hypochlorite by a cobalt oxide catalyst giving chloride and oxygen. The difference of the absorbance of the sample before and after its pass through a cobalt oxide column was selected as analytical signal. As no further reagent was required this work can be considered as a contribution to environmental friendly analytical chemistry. The entire analytical procedure, including in-line sample dilution in three steps was automated by first, dilution in a stirred miniature vessel, second by dispersion and third by in-line addition of water using multisyringe flow injection technique. The dynamic concentration range was 0.04-0.78 g L⁻¹ (relative standard deviation lower than 3%), where the extension of the hypochlorite decomposition was of 90 ± 4%. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of commercial cleaning products. The accuracy of the method was established by iodometric titration.     

Spectrophotometric Determination of Bromate in Water Using Multisyringe Flow Injection Analysis

A multisyringe flow injection system for the spectrophotometric determination of bromate in water is proposed, based on the oxidation of phenothiazine compounds by bromate in acidic medium. Several phenothiazines were tested, including chlorpromazine, trifluoperazine, and thioridazine. Higher sensitivity and lower LOD were attained for chlorpromazine. Interference from nitrite, hypochlorite, and chlorite was eliminated in-line, without any changes in the manifold. The automatic methodology using chlorpromazine allowed the determination of bromate between 25 and 750 µg L^?1, with LOD of 6 µg L^?1, good precision (RSD < 1.6%, n = 10), and determination frequency of 35 h^?1.     

Development of a new high performance low pressure chromatographic system using a multisyringe burette coupled to a chromatographic monolithic column

A novel combination of high performance low pressure chromatography with multisyringe flow injection analysis is presented. This system comprises a multisyringe module, three low pressure solenoid valves, a monolithic Chromolith Flash RP-18e column and a diode array spectrophotometer. UV detection is carried out at 250 nm. AutoAnalysis software is used for instrumental control and automated data collection. The results obtained with multisyringe liquid chromatography (MSC) were compared with those obtained with a HPLC system using similar conditions. The chromatographic parameters were calculated from a mixture of anthracene and thiourea using a mobile phase containing acetonitrile-water (60:40) at a flow rate of 2 ml min⁻¹. The proposed MSC system has been successfully applied to the determination of amoxicillin, ampicillin and cephalexin using a mobile phase of sodium acetate buffer (pH 6.2, 0.1 mol l⁻¹)-methanol (90:10) at a flow rate of 2 ml min⁻¹. The low-cost, flexibility and simplicity of MSC should be highlighted.     

Interfacing on-line solid phase extraction with monolithic column multisyringe chromatography and chemiluminescence detection: An effective tool for fast, sensitive and selective determination of thiazide diuretics

A new, multisyringe flow injection set-up has been developed for the completely automated determination of trace thiazide compounds with diuretic action in different types of samples. The proposed instrumental set-up exploits for the first time, a low pressure on-line solid phase extraction-liquid chromatography-chemiluminescence detection method. This novel combination of sample treatments in flow systems expands the current applicability of low pressure liquid chromatography due to the isolation/preconcentration of the target compounds, besides high selectivity and sensitivity.For the determination of three thiazide compounds named hydroflumethiazide, furosemide and bendroflumethiazide, the proposed set-up provided with the preconcentration of only 1 mL of sample, limits of detection of 3, 60 and 40 μg L⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore wide linear dynamic ranges of 6-4000, 140-20,000 and 90-40,000 μg L⁻¹, respectively, were obtained. Besides of this, a high injection throughput of 12 h⁻¹ was also achieved. As in sports, thiazide diuretics are prohibited substances, the proposed method has been applied to their determination in urine samples. Furthermore the potential of the proposed method as a fast-screening approach for emerging contaminants in waters has been also tested by applying it to well water and leachates from a solid waste landfill.     

The use of anion-exchange disks in an optrode coupled to a multi-syringe flow-injection system for the determination and speciation analysis of iron in natural water samples

A combination of multi-syringe flow-injection analysis (MSFIA) technique with an optical fibre reflectance sensor for the determination of iron in water samples has been developed in this work. Anion-exchange solid phase extraction (SPE) disks have been used as solid phase. Ammonium thiocyanate has been chosen as chromogenic reagent for Fe(III). The complex Fe[SCN]₆³⁻ is retained onto the SPE disk and spectrophotometrically detected at 480 nm. The complex is eluted with 0.25 mol l⁻¹ hydrochloric acid in 75% ethanol. Total iron can be determined by oxidising Fe(II) to Fe(III) with hydrogen peroxide.A mass calibration was run within the range of 0.4-37.5 ng. The detection limit (3s_b/S) was 0.4 ng. The repeatability (RSD), calculated from 9 replicates using 0.5 ml injections of a 25 μg l⁻¹ concentration, was 3.6%. The repeatability between five anion-exchange disks was 5.4%. An injection throughput of 7 injections per hour for a sampling volume of 1 ml has been achieved.The applicability of the proposed methodology in natural water samples has been proved.The properties of anion-exchange and chelating SPE disks have been studied and compared.     

Preconcentration and determination of inorganic arsenic using a multisyringe flow injection system and hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry

A new multisyringe flow injection system for inorganic arsenic determination at trace levels by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HGAFS) is presented. Preconcentration on a solid-phase was carried out using a column packed with an anion-exchange resin (Amberlite IRA-410). The reagents are dispensed to the system using a multisyringe burette coupled with two multi-port selection valves.

Different parameters were changing in order to make the system as effective as possible. An analytical curve was obtained for arsenic determination between 50 and 2000 ng l⁻¹. This new approach improved five times the sensitivity over a MSFIA–HGAFS technique developed previously by the authors. Detection limit of the proposed technique was (3σ_b/S) of 30 ng l⁻¹. The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of As at 1 μg l⁻¹ was 4.8% (n=7). A sample throughput of 10 h⁻¹ has been achieved. The proposed method has been applied to different reference solid and water materials with satisfactory results.     

Spectrophotometric determination of chloride in waters using a multisyringe flow injection system

A multisyringe flow injection system (MSFIA) with spectrophotometric detection is proposed as a fast, robust and low-reagent consumption system for the determination of chloride (Cl⁻) in waters. The system is based in the classic reaction of Cl⁻ with Fe³⁺ and Hg(SCN)₂, but due to the hazardous properties of this last reagent, the proposed methodology has been developed with the aim to minimize the consumption of this one, consuming less than 0.05 mg of Hg for a Cl⁻ determination, being the system of this type with the lowest Hg consumption. The linear working range was between 1 and 40 mg L⁻¹ Cl⁻ and the detection limit was 0.2 mg L⁻¹ Cl⁻. The repeatability (RSD) was 0.8% for a 10 mg L⁻¹ Cl⁻ solution, and the injection throughput was 130 h⁻¹. The proposed system is compared with other chloride monitoring flow systems, this comparison is realized with a point of view of the equilibrium between the obtained analytical features and produced residues toxicity. The proposed system was applied to the determination of Cl⁻ in mineral, tap and well water.