Graphite furnace-atomic absorption spectrophotometric determination of palladium in soil

A new and sensitive procedure for the graphite furnace-atomic absorption sp ectrophotometric (GF-AAS) determination of Pd in soil at nanogram level is described. The method is based on prior separation and enrichment of the me tal as Pd(II)-SnCl3-N-butylacetamide (BAA) complex into l-pentanol (PN) by solvent extraction method. The value of the molar absorptivity of the compl ex in three solvents, i.e. ethyl acetate, l-pentanol, chloroform, lie in th e range of (0.70-2.75) x 10(4) L, mol(-1) cm(-1) at lambda(max) 360-440 nm. The metal could be enriched into organic solvent, i.e. PN, up to 10-folds. The sensitivity (A = 0.0044) of the method in the term of the peak height was 0.5 ng Pd/mL of the aqueous solution at an enrichment factor (EF) of 5. Optimization of analytical variables during enrichment and GF-AAS determin ation of the metal are discussed. The method has been applied for the analy sis of Pd to soil samples derived from roads and highways in Germany.