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A Preconcentration Procedure for Determination of Ultra-Trace Mercury (II) in Environmental Samples Employing Continuous-Flow Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

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Abstract

New functionalized magnetic nanoparticles as solid-phase sorbent were prepared and investigated for extraction of ultra-trace amounts of mercury from environmental samples. The Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles functionalized with dithizone were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy confirmed the size of nanoparticles. Effects of several factors on the extraction procedure were investigated. The optimized conditions were established to be 80 mg of polymer, 8.5 for solution pH, 5 min for adsorption time, 5 min for desorption time, 2 mL for HCl (0.1 mol L−1)/ thiourea 0.05 % as the eluent, 500 mL for breakthrough volume, and without addition of salt. Under the optimal conditions, the limit of detection, maximum capacity, and preconcentration factor were 0.05 ng mL−1, 0.557 mmol g−1, and 250, respectively. Limit of quantification was in the range of 0.2–2 ng mL−1 for various matrices. Accuracy and precision of the method were about ±2.0 and below 11.1 %, respectively. Finally, the present method has been successfully applied to mercury determination in table salt, green tea, vegetables, toothpaste, and water samples. The mercury content found in the real samples was from 0.6 to 15.74 ng mL−1 without addition of mercury.

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Conflict of Interest

Homeira Ebrahimzadeh has received research grants from Shahid Beheshti University. Laleh Adlnasab declares that she has no conflict of interest. Ali Akbar Asgharinezhad declares that he has no conflict of interest. Mahnaz Nasiri Aghdam declares that she has no conflict of interest. Ali Dehghani declares that he has no conflict of interest. Sousan Esmaeilpour declare that she has no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Standard Research Institute, P.O. Box: 31745-139, Karaj, Iran

    Laleh Adlnasab & Sousan Esmaeilpour

  2. Department of Chemistry, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C., Evin, Tehran, Iran

    Homeira Ebrahimzadeh, Ali Akbar Asgharinezhad & Mahnaz Nasiri Aghdam

  3. Department of Chemistry, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Dehghani

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  1. Laleh Adlnasab
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  2. Homeira Ebrahimzadeh
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  3. Ali Akbar Asgharinezhad
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  4. Mahnaz Nasiri Aghdam
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  5. Ali Dehghani
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  6. Sousan Esmaeilpour
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Correspondence to Homeira Ebrahimzadeh.

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Adlnasab, L., Ebrahimzadeh, H., Asgharinezhad, A.A. et al. A Preconcentration Procedure for Determination of Ultra-Trace Mercury (II) in Environmental Samples Employing Continuous-Flow Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. Food Anal. Methods 7, 616–628 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-013-9664-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-013-9664-y

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