Determination of antimony(III) by flame AAS after microcolumn preconcentration on DETA sorbent

Selective sorption of Sb(III) on a microcolumn packed with DETA sorbent wit h grafted diethylenetriamine groups in a flow injection (FT) system was use d for the determination of Sb(III) by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The sorbed antimony was directly eluted with HNO3 and determined on -line by FAAS. The detection limit of FI-FAAS procedure for antimony was 0. 9 mu g/L (3 sigma) and was comparable to 0.8 mu g/L for the direct injectio n GFAAS. The precision of the Sb determination (relative standard deviation , n=5) at the concentration level of 10 mu g/L was 5.2%. Since total antimo ny was directly determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectromet ry (GFAAS), the Sb(V) concentration could be calculated by the difference. The FI-FAAS procedure and GFAAS technique were applied for speciation deter mination of inorganic antimony in spiked oligocene water sampled from a wel l, which reaches the layer of rocks formed during the oligocene period.