Determination of trace amounts of rare earth elements by ETV-ICP-AES combined with microcolumn separation/preconcentration

A sensitive and rapid method for electrothermal vaporization-inductively co upled plasma atomic emission spectrometry determination of rare earth eleme nts (Sc, Y, La and Yb) after separation/preconcentration by a micro-column packed with immobilized 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-bonzoyl-5-pyrazone on microcrys talline naphthalene has been developed, Various influencing factors, such a s the acidity of the aqueous solution, flow rate, volume of the sample, dim ension of the micro-column were investigated in detail, It was found that a cetone could be used to dissolve the adsorbed material packed in micro-colu mn. The detection limits for ETV-ICP-AES determinations of Sc, Y, La and Yb with PMBP as a chemical modifier are 14, 32, 190 and 26 pg/mL. The relativ e standard deviations were 3. 1%, 3. 5%, 4. 8% and 3. 4% for Sc, Y, La and Yb, respectively (n = 9, c = 10 ng/mL), The Sc, Y, La and Yb contents in a standard reference material of GBW07602 (GSV-2) and a real tea sample deter mined by the proposed method are satisfactory.