Automatic flow analysis method to determine traces of Mn²⁺ in sea and drinking waters by a kinetic catalytic process...

A new automatic kinetic catalytic method has been developed for the measurement of Mn(2+) in drinking and seawater samples. The method is based on the catalytic effect of Mn(2+) on the oxidation of tiron by hydrogen peroxide in presence of Pb(2+) as an activator. The optimum conditions were obtained at pH 10 with 0.019 mol L(-1) 2'2 bipyridyl, 0.005 mol L(-1) tiron and 0.38 mol L(-1) hydrogen peroxide. Flow system is based on multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) coupled with a lab-on-valve (LOV) device exploiting on line spectrophotometric detection by a Liquid Waveguide Capillary Cell (LWCC), 1m optical length and performed at 445 nm. Under the optimized conditions by a multivariate approach, the method allowed the measurement of Mn(2+) in a range of 0.03-35 µg L(-1) with a detection limit of 0.010 µg L(-1), attaining a repeatability of 1.4% RSD. The method was satisfactorily applied to the determination of Mn(2+) in environmental water samples. The reliability of method was also verified by determining the manganese content of the certified standard reference seawater sample, CASS-4.