Elimination of sulfide interference by sodium hypochlorite solution in the cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometric determination of mercury using tin(II) reduction in alkaline medium

An addition of sodium hypochlorite solution effectively eliminated the interference by sulfide in the cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometric determination of mercury using tin(II) reduction in alkaline medium. Mercury ranging from 0.01 to 0.5 μg could be determined within ±10% error in 100 mL of sample solution containing 10 mg of sulfide by the addition of 1 mL of 10.4%(w/v) sodium hypochlorite solution. The proposed method is rapid (5 min per determination) and has good reproducibility (3.0%). Received: 20 May 1998 / Revised: 7 July 1998 / Accepted: 10 July 1998