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Determination of traces of lead and cadmium using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

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Abstract

A procedure is presented for the determination of very low concentrations of lead and cadmium in water samples. Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate is applied. The aqueous sample solution (adjusted to pH 6) is based on the rapidly mixed with of a small volume of a mixture of carbon tetrachloride and methanol. The two phases are separated by centrifugation, and the metals determined in the organic layer using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. An effective chemical modification during the heating cycle is achieved by impregnating the graphite atomizer with a sodium tungstate solution. This allows well defined absorbance time profiles and low background values to be obtained during the atomization stage. The detection limits for lead and cadmium are 10 and 4 ng L−1, respectively. The procedure is applied to the determination of both analytes in bottled water, tap waters, and seawaters.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Spanish MICINN (Project CTQ2006-08037/BQU) for financial support. Ricardo E. Rivas acknowledges a fellowship from Departamento de Formación del Personal Académico de la Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado (Venezuela).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Murcia, E-30071, Murcia, Spain

    Ricardo E. Rivas, Ignacio López-García & Manuel Hernández-Córdoba

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  1. Ricardo E. Rivas
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  2. Ignacio López-García
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  3. Manuel Hernández-Córdoba
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Correspondence to Manuel Hernández-Córdoba.

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Rivas, R.E., López-García, I. & Hernández-Córdoba, M. Determination of traces of lead and cadmium using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. Microchim Acta 166, 355–361 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-009-0206-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-009-0206-7

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