Slurry sample introduction with fluorinating electrothermal vaporization for the direct ICP-AES determination of boron in plant leaves

Summary The slurry sample introduction with fluorinating electrothermal vaporization has been applied to ICP-AES for the determination of boron in plant leaves. The main working parameters for ETV-ICP-AES, such as r.f. power, gas flow rate, drying temperature and atomization temperature have been studied. The concentration of the fluorinating agent polytetrafluoro-ethylene was examined for the boron determination. The matrix concentrations of Na, K, Ca and Mg up to 5 mg/ml do not interfere with the fluorinating vaporization of boron. Several plant samples were analysed with the standard addition method. A good agreement of analytical results between this method and a spectrophotometric method was obtained. The determined value of boron in NBS SRM 1573 tomato leaves coincides with literature values.