title: Supported liquid membrane coupled on-line to potentiometric stripping analysis at a mercury-coated reticulated vitreous carbon electrode for trace metal determinations in urine.
abstract: A method for trace metal determinations in complex matrices is presented. The method combines supported liquid membrane (SLM) sample clean-up and enrichment with potentiometric stripping analysis (PSA) in a flow system using reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) as the electrode material. The membrane contained 40% m/m di-2-ethylhexylphosphoric acid dissolved in kerosene. Lead was used as a model substance in high-purity water and urine samples. The samples were enriched after a simple pH adjustment. The SLM enrichment time was 10 min when the last 5 min electrodeposition on the RVC electrode at -1.0 V (versus Ag/AgCl) was performed simultaneously. The influence of various experimental parameters such as deposition time, deposition potential and flow rate on the lead signal was investigated. With a 10 min SLM enrichment including a 5 min deposition time, the detection limit for lead was 0.3 microgram l-1. The relative standard deviation for lead concentrations in the range 4-20 micrograms l-1 was 0.05%. The overall SLM-PSA system was found to be stable for at least 100 urine analyses. The method was validated by running a reference urine sample. The result obtained (five replicates) was 9.7 micrograms l-1 (standard deviation 1.8 micrograms l-1) which is within the recommended range of 9.2-10.8 micrograms l-1.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Djane
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Armalis
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ndung'u
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mathiasson
mesh_terms: D004566:Electrodes; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000652:urine; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011199:Potentiometry; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D014131:Trace Elements; D007854:Lead