SEQUENTIAL DETERMINATION OF TIN, ARSENIC, BISMUTH AND ANTIMONY IN MARINE SEDIMENT MATERIAL BY INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-ATOMIC EMISSION-SPECTROMETRY USING A SMALL CONCENTRIC HYDRIDE GENERATOR AND L-CYSTEINE AS PREREDUCTANT

A hydride generation system using a small concentric hydride generator combined with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) was established to determine tin, arsenic, bismuth and anti mony in a marine sediment material with L-cysteine as a pre-reductant. Influences of concentrations of three kinds of acids (HCl, HNO3 and H ClO4), L-cysteine, and sodium tetrahydroborate(III) as well as sodium hydroxide were investigated. The interferences from transition ions we re found to be insignificant for determination of the four elements in presence of L-cysteine. Under optimized conditions the detection limi ts were 0.6 ng/mL for arsenic(III), 0.8 ng/mL for antimony(III), 1.7 n g/mL for tin(IV), and 1.2 ng/mL for bismuth(III). The method was appli ed to determine the four elements in standard marine sediment material s and the results were in agreement with certified values.