ABSTRACT
Lead and chromium contamination represents one of the most serious problems in the aquatic environments. The aim of this work was to develop and validate an accurate, sensitivity, and rapid method for the simultaneous determination of Pb and Cr at trace levels in tissues and fat of marine organisms such as turtle (Chelonia mydas), shark (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae), and dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), utilizing the total reflection X-Ray fluorescence (TXRF) spectroscopy. Working solutions were prepared in 10 mL of a solution 0.005 mol·L-1 EDTA and 1 mol·L-1 HNO3. In order to correct possible instrument drifts, 20 µg·L-1 of gallium was used as internal standard (IS). The results showed that TXRF method was linear over the concentration ranges of 5.242-100 µg·L-1 for Pb and 2.363-100 µg·L-1 for Cr. Limits of detection (LOD) achieved were 1.573 and 0.709 µg·L-1 for Pb and Cr, respectively, while limits of quantification achieved were 5.242 µg·L-1 for Pb and 2.363 µg·L-1 for Cr. The validated method was accurate and precise enough for determination of these heavy metals in samples of marine organisms as indicated by acceptable values of recovery between 90-101%. In addition, a certified reference material (BCR-279, sea lettuce) and a Centrum tablet were satisfactory analyzed, and the T-test for comparison of means revealed that there were no significant differences at the 95% confidence level between the values obtained with the proposed TXRF method and the certificated values. The repeatability of the method, expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD), was 5.1% and 4%, for Pb and Cr, respectively. In addition, other features of the developed method were a low sample volume of 10 µL, and the sample frequency achieved was 20 h-1.
ABSTRACT
Hydride generation (HG) of lead technique presents interferences from foreign ions of complex matrix samples. In order to minimize these interferences, the effect of masking agents such as KI, L-cysteine, and 1,10-phenanthroline was studied in the absence and in the presence of selected interfering species (As, Cr, Cu, and Fe). Different modes of addition of masking agents were accomplished, that is, to either sample or KBH4 reducing solution. The lead determinations were performed using a flow injection analysis (FIA) system coupled to HG and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS). The linearity of calibration curves (1-10 µg Pb L(-1)) was not affected by the addition of the masking agents. The use of KI in the reducing solution diminished interferences from concentrations of As and Cu, while 1,10-phenanthroline showed a positive effect on the interference by As. Moreover, Cr and Cu appeared to be the most serious interfering ions for plumbane (PbH4), because they drastically reduced the analytical signal of lead. Fe did not present any interference under the employed experimental conditions, even at high levels. The accuracy was established through the analysis of certified reference material (i.e., BCR-610, groundwater) using KI as masking agent. The detection limit reached by FIA-HG-AFS proposed methodology was 0.03 µg Pb L(-1).
