Speciation of Antimony in Leaching Solution in Contact with Plastic by Novel Liquid-Liquid Microextraction and Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Abstract

A novel, simple, sensitive, and efficient method for the speciation of inorganic antimony by dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) combined with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS) is reported. The method uses a hydrophobic complex of antimony(III) with a new chelating agent, 1,2,6-hexanetriol trithioglycolate, at neutral pH. The complex was extracted into the organic phase, whereas antimony(V) remained in aqueous solution. The concentration of antimony(V) was obtained by subtracting the antimony(III) concentration from the total antimony concentration following the reduction of antimony(V) to antimony(III) by L-cysteine. The pH, extraction and dispersive solvents and volumes, and concentration of 1,2,6 -hexanetriol trithioglycolate were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the analytical curve was linear from 0.26 to 3.2 micrograms per liter with a limit of detection of 27.0 nanograms per liter for antimony(III). The relative standard deviation was 6.8 percent at 0.52 microgram per liter antimony(III) with an enrichment factor of twenty-six. The method was employed for the speciation of antimony in leaching solution in contact with plastic; and the recoveries in fortified samples were between 94.2 and 118.0 percent.