LOW-TEMPERATURE ELECTROTHERMAL VAPORIZATION OF AN 8-QUINOLINOLATO COMPLEX OF ALUMINUM(III) FOR SAMPLE INTRODUCTION IN AN INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-ATOMIC EMISSION SPECTROMETRIC DETERMINATION OF TRACE ALUMINUM

A method based on the low-temperature electrothermal vaporization of a n 8-quinolinolato complex from a tungsten boat cuvette is proposed for introducing a trace amount of aluminum present in a digested steel-ma king alloy or opal glass sample into an inductively coupled plasma for atomic emission spectrometric detection. The operating conditions wer e optimized and the effect of foreign ions was investigated. Zirconium (IV) was found to reduce the interferences from other foreign ions. Th e detection limit was found to be 0.12 ng of aluminum and the precisio n in relative standard deviation for 2.0 ng of aluminum was determined to be 6.1% (n=6). The aluminum contents in some standard samples dete rmined by the proposed method were in good agreement with the certifie d values.