Determination of trace amounts of Sb, Pb, Tl in water samples by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry after a diantipyrylmethane-iodide third phase preconcentration

Abstract

A preconcentration method based on third phase extraction has been developed and combined with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) for determination of Sb, Pb, Tl at trace levels in water samples. The reagents diantipyrylmethane and potassium iodide were applied for complexing Sb, Pb, Tl and producing a third phase extraction system. This third phase system produces relatively large enrichment factors and complete isolation of trace elements from high salt-containing matrices which influence strongly the plasma condition. Experimental parameters of the extraction, such as concentrations of complexing reagents, pH and extraction time have been optimized. Under the selected conditions, this third phase ICP-AES combination procedure gave multielemental detection limits for Sb, Pb, Tl which are superior by an order of magnitude or more to those obtained by ICP-AES alone without preconcentration. Precision of the technique is better than 10% at the 10 μg/l level. The accuracy of this approach is demonstrated by its application to tapwater, artificial seawater and reference seawater samples.