title: Photo-induced cold vapor generation with low molecular weight alcohol, aldehyde, or carboxylic acid for atomic fluorescence spectrometric determination of mercury.
abstract: With UV irradiation, Hg(2+) in aqueous solution can be converted into Hg(0) cold vapor by low molecular weight alcohols, aldehydes, or carboxylic acids, e.g., methanol, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, glycol, 1,2-propanediol, glycerol, acetic acid, oxalic acid, or malonic acid. It was found that the presence of nano-TiO(2) more or less improved the efficiency of the photo-induced chemical/cold vapor generation (photo-CVG) with most of the organic reductants. The nano-TiO(2)-enhanced photo-CVG systems can be coupled to various analytical atomic spectrometric techniques for the determination of ultratrace mercury. In this work, we evaluated the application of this method to the atomic fluorescence spectrometric (AFS) determination of mercury in cold vapor mode. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the instrumental limits of detection (based on three times the standard deviation of 11 measurements of a blank solution) were around 0.02-0.04 microg L(-1), with linear dynamic ranges up to 15 microg L(-1). The interference of transition metals and the mechanism of the photo-CVG are briefly discussed. Real sample analysis using the photo-CVG-AFS method revealed that it was promising for water and geological analysis of ultralow levels of mercury.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Chunfang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Chengbin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Guanglei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Xiandeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hou
mesh_terms: D000438:Alcohols / Q000737:chemistry*; D000447:Aldehydes / Q000737:chemistry*; D002264:Carboxylic Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005740:Gases; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D008970:Molecular Weight; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D000438:Alcohols; D000447:Aldehydes; D002264:Carboxylic Acids; D005740:Gases; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium; D008628:Mercury