Determination of trace vanadium in sea cucumbers by ultrasound-assisted cloud point extraction and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract

An ultrasound-assisted cloud point extraction (CPE) procedure was used for preconcentration and determination of vanadium by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The vanadyl(IV) complex with ascorbic acid form a hydrophobic complex with 4-(2-pyridylazo) resorcinol (PAR) in a micelle medium, which is stable under our working conditions, and followed by its extraction into Triton X-100 surfactant-rich phase. The main factors affecting CPE efficiency, such as pH, concentrations of PAR, ascorbic acid and Triton X-100, incubation temperature, frequency and equilibration time of ultrasonic bath were investigated in detail. Under the optimum conditions, preconcentration of 10 mL sample gave a preconcentration factor of 36.4 and a detection limit of 4.0 µg kg−1. The proposed method was successfully applied to determination of vanadium in sea cucumbers with satisfactory results.