Determination of mercury by atomic absorption spectrometry using a platinum-lined graphite furnace for in situ preconcentration

Mercury in water samples was reduced by tin(II) chloride and the generated vapour swept in a flow of argon through a platinum-lined graphite tube to permit in situ preconcentration. Subsequent atomization of the mercury was then carried out under essentially gas-stop conditions to maximize sensitivy. The system was optimized with respect to argon gas flow and time of mercury generation/deposition using response surface methodology. Synthetic sea-water samples were analysed to test the applicability of the method. For 50-ml sample volumes, detection limits below 2 ng 1^?1 mercury could be obtained, based on twice the standard deviation of the blank. The most favourable aspect of the procedure is its simplicity, since the mercury generator can be easily constructed and connected to commonly available graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometers.