Abstract
A fast and straightforward procedure aimed at separating copper (Cu) ions from monosacharides and preconcentrating their traces before flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) measurements was developed, and its suitability was evaluated by the analysis of freshly ripened honeys on the content of this environmentally and physiologically relevant element. This procedure included the passage (at 20 mL/min) of 10 % (m/v) solutions of honeys (100 mL) through resin beds of Dowex 50 W × 8-400 to retain Cu by solid-phase extraction (SPE) and separate it from the glucose and fructose matrix. In turn, SPE columns were rinsed at 20 mL/min with 20 mL of water and subsequently washed with 20 mL of a 0.5 mol/L HNO3 solution (at 2.0 mL/min) to elute potassium and sodium. Preconcentrated Cu was stripped (at 2.0 mL/min) with 5.0 mL of a 2.0 mol/L HCl solution and determined by FAAS. The proposed procedure was used for the analysis of six ripened monoflower and multiflower honeys, enabling the measurement of Cu within the range of 0.17–0.42 μg/g and with a precision of 3–10 %. Recoveries of Cu added to respective honey solutions were within 94–102 %, proving the good accuracy of this procedure. The detection limit of Cu achieved with this SPE preconcentration/separation procedure and FAAS detection was 3.6 ng/g.
Highlights
Ripened honeys exhibit a great variability in the content of copper (Cu) mostly due to (1) their floral and regional variations and (2) the different kinds of environmental
A fast and straightforward procedure aimed at separating copper (Cu) ions from monosacharides and preconcentrating their traces before flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) measurements was developed, and its suitability was evaluated by the analysis of freshly ripened honeys on the content of this environmentally and physiologically relevant element
Average values (n = 3) ± SDs a Concentrations of curves for FAAS (Cu) in effluents are lower than the respective detection limit (DL) b Sum of concentrations of fructose and glucose the resin studied. 10 mL portions of the resulting effluents collected at the end of the solution loading were analyzed by FAAS and flame optical emission spectrometry (FOES) for the contents of Cu and K with Na, respectively, which were not retained by the resin
Summary
Ripened honeys exhibit a great variability in the content of copper (Cu) mostly due to (1) their floral and regional variations and (2) the different kinds of environmental. Wet ashing in a concentrated solution of HNO3, or its combination with concentrated solutions of H2SO4 or HClO4, is applied and realized in open- (Nanda et al 2003; Rashed and Soltan 2004) or closed- (Madejczyk and Baralkiewicz 2008) vessel systems Both digestion approaches certainly enable the decomposition of the carbohydrate-rich honey matrix and release simple ions through which nonspectral and spectral interferences affecting the sample solution introduction, in addition to dissociation and atomization processes in the air-acetylene flame, respectively, are eliminated (Uren et al 1998; Lachman et al 2007; dos Santos et al 2008). The analytical performance of the developed SPE preconcentration/separation procedure was evaluated and the method was applied to the analysis of freshly ripened monoflower and multiflower honeys as to their content of Cu
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