Hydrodynamic Sequential Injection Spectrophotometric System for Determination of Manganese in Soil

ABSTRACT

A novel hydrodynamic sequential injection (HSI) spectrophotometric system for determination of manganese was developed. It is based on the complexation of Mn(II) with formaldoxime in basic solution (pH ≥ 10) to produce product that could be monitored spectrophotometrically at 450 nm. Based on the HSI concept, both sample and reagents were aspirated through solenoid valves to fill a defined volumes conduit between 3-way connectors connected in series, forming stacked zones of solutions similar to those in normal SI. The concept was successfully demonstrated for manganese determination. A linear calibration graph over a range of 0.5 to 30 mg L^?1 Mn(II) with a detection limit of 0.2 mg L^?1 was obtained. Relative standard deviations for 11 replicated injections of 5 and 20 mg Mn L^?1 were 5.6% and 2.4%, respectively. A sample throughput of 45 h^?1 was achieved. The results from investigation of exchangeable manganese in soil samples by the developed method were found to be in good agreement with the results obtained by a batch spectrophotometric method, despite the proposed system employed simpler and more cost-effective devices/instruments, had higher degrees of automation with full microcontroller control of the operation, and consumed smaller amounts of chemicals (250 µL each of hydroxylamine, sample, and formaldoxime solutions and 2.5 mL of buffer carrier solution per operation cycle).