title: Hydride generation in-atomizer collection atomic absorption spectrometry for the determination of antimony in acetic acid leachates from pewter cups.
abstract: Antimony is one of the constituents of pewter, an alloy composed of a minimum of 90% tin with the balance being made up with copper, antimony and perhaps some bismuth. A method has been developed to determine Sb in acetic acid leachates from pewter cups. The employed instrumentation, an atomic absorption spectrometer, equipped with a quartz trap-and-atomizer device, is simple and relatively inexpensive with low running costs. Interferences due to the presence of tin and ways to control them were investigated in detail. The applied approach made possible to overcome potentially serious interference of Sn leached from the cup material (which was shown to take place in the atomizer), by a combination of (i) high concentration of HCl, which decreases the efficiency of stannane generation and (ii) in-atomizer collection. The resulting Sn tolerance limit was between 10 and 20 mg L(-1). The advantages of the in-atomizer collection are a lower tin interference in the atomizer, and a much better limit of detection (LOD), which makes possible reducing the atomization interference further by working with more diluted sample solutions. Besides the Sn interference, an interference of an unknown volatile compound transported to the atomizer together with stibine was identified in the measured sample solutions. This interference could be controlled using the analyte addition technique. The applicability of the method was tested on solutions containing a wide range of interferents leached from the pewter cups, obtained at leaching times between 1 and 24h. The LOD in the sample solutions was found to be 0.03 μg L(-1) Sb.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, RS 91501-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Morgana B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Dessuy
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kratzer
authors.forename: Maria Goreti R
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Vale
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Welz
authors.forename: Jiří
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dědina
mesh_terms: D019342:Acetic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D000497:Alloys / Q000737:chemistry*; D000965:Antimony / Q000032:analysis*; D004867:Equipment Design; D057230:Limit of Detection; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014001:Tin / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000497:Alloys; C021254:stibine; D014001:Tin; D000965:Antimony; D019342:Acetic Acid