Determination of thallium in sea-water by flow injection hydride generation isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

• Published in: Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry Vol. 14; no. 8; pp. 1177 - 1181
• Main Authors: WEI, M.-T, JIANG, S.-J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 1999
• Subjects: Analytical chemistry; Applied sciences; Chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; Natural water pollution; Pollution; Seawaters, estuaries; Spectrometric and optical methods; Water treatment and pollution; Taiwan; Trace analysis; Thallium; Chemical analysis; Interelement effect; Coupled method; Isotope dilution; Metal; Inductive coupling plasma spectrometry; Environmental control; Hydridation; Water pollution; Mass spectrometry; Seawater; Flow injection
• ISSN: 0267-9477; 1364-5544
• DOI: 10.1039/a903199e

A method for the determination of tellurium in seawater by flow injection hydride generation using a simple laboratory-built vapour generator and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry is described. The vapour generation system employed sodium borohydride as reagent and hydrochloric acid solution as carrier. The tellurium concentration was determined by the isotope dilution method. The conditions for vapour generation (sodium borohydride concentration, composition of the carrier and injected sample solution, and flow rate of sodium borohydride and carrier solution) were optimized. The use of vapour generation alleviated the non-spectroscopic interferences found when using a conventional pneumatic nebulizer for sample introduction. The method was applied to NASS-4 and CASS-3 seawater reference samples and to seawater samples from the Kaohsiung area. Isotope dilution, standard additions and external calibration methods of quantitation were compared. The detection limit was about 0.01 ng per ml tellurium, which is higher than that achievable by direct solution nebulization. A better limit of detection could be obtained by improving hydride generation efficiency. There are 34 references.