Flow injection on-line solid phase extraction for ultra-trace lead screening with hydride generation atomic...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Environmental Science
• Spectroscopy

Background:

• Ultra-trace lead determination is crucial for environmental and biological monitoring.
• Traditional methods often lack sensitivity or require complex sample preparation.
• Flow injection analysis coupled with solid phase extraction offers a promising avenue for efficient analyte preconcentration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a flow injection (FI) on-line solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure for ultra-trace lead (Pb) separation and preconcentration.
• To couple the developed SPE method with hydride generation and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) for sensitive lead quantification.
• To validate the method for analyzing lead in diverse biological and environmental matrices.

Main Methods:

• On-line solid phase extraction using an iminodiacetate chelating resin microcolumn for lead retention.
• Elution of lead with 2.5% hydrochloric acid.
• Hydride generation using alkaline tetrahydroborate solution with potassium ferricyanide, followed by atomic fluorescence spectrometric detection.

Main Results:

• Quantitative lead retention achieved with a 4.8 ml sample volume.
• An enrichment factor of 11.3 and a sampling frequency of 50 h(-1) were obtained.
• A low detection limit of 4 ng l(-1) (3 sigma) and a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.6% at 0.4 microg l(-1) were achieved.

Conclusions:

• The developed FI on-line SPE-HG-AFS method provides a sensitive and efficient approach for ultra-trace lead determination.
• The procedure demonstrates excellent performance, validated by analysis of certified reference materials.
• The method is suitable for practical application in analyzing lead in various biological and environmental samples.