A flow injection on-line multiplexed sorption preconcentration procedure coupled with flame atomic absorption spectrometry for determination of trace lead in water, tea, and herb medicines.

Abstract

One of the limitations in previous flow injection (FI) sorption preconcentration procedures in a knotted reactor (KR), which have been carried out exclusively with a single continuous sample injection over a certain period, is the relatively low retention efficiency (typically 40-50%). Although the sensitivity of such systems could be improved by properly increasing sample preconcentration time, sample loading flow rate, or both, further improvement of the sensitivity has been limited by the narrow linearity of the relationship between signal intensity and preconcentration time or sample loading time. In this work, a novel on-line FI multiplexed sorption preconcentration procedure with repetitive sample injections was developed to overcome the above problems in the previous systems. In contrast to previous FI preconcentration systems, the proposed multiplexed preconcentration procedure evenly divides a single longer sample injection step into several shorter substeps while the total preconcentration time is still kept constant. To demonstrate its merits, the proposed FI on-line KR multiplexed sorption preconcentration system was combined with flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) for determination of trace lead in water, tea, and herb medicines. The lead in the sample solution on-line reacted with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, and the resultant analyte complex was sorbed on the inner walls of the KR. The residual sample solution was then removed from the KR with an air flow. The above two steps were repeated eight times with a total preconcentration time of 120 s. The sorbed analyte was eluted from the KR with 4.5 mol L(-1) HCl for on-line FAAS detection. The present multiplexed preconcentration procedure with eight repetitive sample injections for a total preconcentration time of 120 s gave a retention efficiency of 92%, twice that obtained by one single sample injection preconcentration (47%). In addition, the linear ranges of the diagrams of absorbance against sample loading flow rate and sample loading time were extended, offering more potential for achieving high sensitivity by increasing sample loading rates or sample loading time compared to the previous one single continuous sample injection preconcentration procedure. At a sample loading flow rate of 3.6 mL min(-1) for a total preconcentration period of 120 s, an enhancement factor of 57 and a detection limit (3sigma) of 8 microg L(-1) were obtained. The precision was 1.4% (RSD, n = 11) at the 200 microg L(-1) level. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of trace lead in various water samples, herb medicines, and a certified tea reference material.