INTEGRATED FIA HPLC METHOD FOR PRECONCENTRATION AND DETERMINATION OF TRANSITION-METAL IONS

Abstract

An automatic method based on the combination of a flow injection (FI) manifold with a liquid chromatograph has been developed for the enrichment and determination of transition metal ions in water samples. Alternatively, the FI configuration can be used as a screening system for the determination of the total concentration of heavy metals. Two-parameter expressions for calibration graphs involving preconcentration time and concentration of the analytes were established for both the FIA and the integrated FIA/HPLC methods. The preconcentration time depends on the concentration level of the analytes in the samples. The method is linear in the range 2-200 ng/ml, with r.s.d. values between 1.5 and 5.0. It has been applied to the determination of copper, lead, zinc, nickel, cobalt, cadmium and manganese in synthetic water samples.