Determination of arsenic and antimony in wine by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

The determination of As and Sb in red and white wines by graphite furnace Zeeman atomic absorption spectrometry is described. The wine can be analyzed directly, provided a matrix modifier is used, Three modifiers have been tested; palladium nitrate was found to be superior to nickel nitrate and nickel sulphate. The sensitivity and detection limits were improved when the wine was decomposed with a mixture of nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide prior to analysis. Two different decomposition systems (Tecator and Bethge) were employed without loss of analyte, The concentration of As and Sb was found to be below 10 mu g/L for all the wine samples. The standard addition method was used for the quantitative determination.