ICP-spectrometric determination of the total tin content in the water of the Azov and Black seas using the hydride generation technique

Abstract

The current paper considers the possibility of determining the total tin content in the waters of the Azov and Black seas using the hydride generation technique. The conditions for the generation of tin hydrides were optimized for the subsequent determination by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). When studying the matrix effect of the components, it was found that the transition metals Ni2+, Co2+, Cu2+, and Fe3+ reduce the analytical signal of tin. The possibility of leveling the influence of transition metals by various binding masking agents (L-cysteine, EDTA, tartaric acid, potassium iodide and thiocarbamide), of which L-cysteine showed the greatest efficiency, was studied. Under the optimized analysis conditions, the limits for the determination of inorganic tin in the model waters were established, which, regardless of the salinity level, were 0.05 and 0.03 μg/dm3 for ICP-AES and ICP-MS, respectively. The possibility of determining tin in waters using the hydride generation technique, when the analyte was present in the form of organotin compounds, was evaluated. It has been shown that for the ICP spectrometric determination of the analyte with the generation of hydrides in water containing organotin compounds, microwave mineralization of the samples was required. The satisfactory convergence of the analyses’ results was observed when determining the total content of tin in sea waters in the concentration ranges of 0.05–2.00 and 0.03–2.00 μg/dm3 for ICP-AES and ICP-MS, respectively. The developed methods were used to determine tin in the waters of the Azov and Black seas; the total analyte content in them was 0.15 and 0.23 μg/dm3­, respectively.