Bismuth as a general internal standard for lead in atomic absorption spectrometry

Marcos A Bechlin; Felipe M Fortunato; Edilene C Ferreira; José A Gomes Neto; Joaquim A Nóbrega; George L Donati; Bradley T Jones

doi:10.1016/j.aca.2014.05.002

Bismuth as a general internal standard for lead in atomic absorption spectrometry

Anal Chim Acta. 2014 Jun 11:831:24-30. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2014.05.002. Epub 2014 May 2.

Authors

Marcos A Bechlin¹, Felipe M Fortunato¹, Edilene C Ferreira¹, José A Gomes Neto², Joaquim A Nóbrega³, George L Donati⁴, Bradley T Jones⁴

Affiliations

¹ São Paulo State University - Unesp, Analytical Chemistry Department, P.O. Box 355, Araraquara, SP 14801-970, Brazil.
² São Paulo State University - Unesp, Analytical Chemistry Department, P.O. Box 355, Araraquara, SP 14801-970, Brazil. Electronic address: anchieta@iq.unesp.br.
³ Federal University of São Carlos, Department of Chemistry, São Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27106, USA.

PMID: 24861968
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2014.05.002

Abstract

Bismuth was evaluated as internal standard for Pb determination by line source flame atomic absorption spectrometry (LS FAAS), high-resolution continuum source flame atomic absorption spectrometry (HR-CS FAAS) and line source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (LS GFAAS). Analysis of samples containing different matrices indicated close relationship between Pb and Bi absorbances. Correlation coefficients of calibration curves built up by plotting A(Pb)/A(Bi)versus Pb concentration were higher than 0.9953 (FAAS) and higher than 0.9993 (GFAAS). Recoveries of Pb improved from 52-118% (without IS) to 97-109% (IS, LS FAAS); 74-231% (without IS) to 96-109% (IS, HR-CS FAAS); and 36-125% (without IS) to 96-110% (IS, LS GFAAS). The relative standard deviations (n=12) were reduced from 0.6-9.2% (without IS) to 0.3-4.3% (IS, LS FAAS); 0.7-7.7% (without IS) to 0.1-4.0% (IS, HR-CS FAAS); and 2.1-13% (without IS) to 0.4-5.9% (IS, LS GFAAS).

Keywords: Atomic absorption spectrometry; Bismuth; Lead; Universal internal standard.