METAL TUBE ATOMIZER IN HYDRIDE GENERATION ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY FOR ARSENIC DETERMINATION IN ANIMAL TISSUES AND SEDIMENT

Arsenic determination was succesfully carried out using a metallic atomizer for hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry. The optimized conditions were established as 1600 mu L-injection loop, 30 cm-reaction coil, 40 mL min(-1) of argon flow rate, 3: 10 L min(-1) for the acetylene: air ratio, 1.5 mm i.d. of the ceramic capillary, 43 mm(2) as total drilled hole area of the atomizer, and 1.4 mol L-1 and 0.7% (w/v) as HCl and NaBH4 concentrations, respectively. With these conditions, the proposed method allows good figures of merit, with LOD and LOQ as 2.3 and 7.7 mu g L-1, respectively, a linear range from 7.7 to 80 mu g L-1 and precision better than 5.8%. Certified reference materials were used for checking the accuracy of the method.