Trace adsorptive voltammetric determination of antimony in hair

A very sensitive electrochemical procedure for trace determination of antimony is described. The complex of antimony with p-dimethyl-aminophenyl-fluorone (p-DMPF) is adsorbed on a hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE), and the reduction current of the accumulated complex is measured by voltammetry. In linear sweep voltammetry, the reduction potential of the complex is more positive than that of the free dye. The peak height of the complex is proportional to the concentration of antimony in the range of 4.0 x 10(-9) to 4.0 x 10(-7) M, the detection limit is 1.0 x 10(-9) M Sb(III) for a 5 min preconcentration time. The relative standard error for the determination of 8.0 x 10(-8) M Sb(III) is 2.9%.