Selective determination of antimony(III) and antimony(V) with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate, sodium diethyldithiocarbamate and dithizone by atomic-absorption spectrometry with a carbon-tube atomizer

The extraction behaviour of antimony(III) and antimony(V) with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate, sodium diethyldithiocarbamate and dithizone in organic solvents has been investigated by means of frameless atomic-absorption spectrophotometry with a carbon-tube atomizer. The selective extraction of antimony(III) and differential determination of antimony(III) and antimony(V) have been developed. With ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate and methyl isobutyl ketone, when the aqueous phase/solvent volume ratio is 50 ml/10 ml and the injection volume in the carbon tube is 20 mul, the sensitivity for antimony is 0.2 ng/ml for 1% absorption. The relative standard deviations are ca. 2%. Interferences by many metal ions can be prevented by masking with EDTA. The proposed methods have been applied satisfactorily to determination of antimony(III) and antimony(V) in various types of water.