Determination of copper in saline water using flow injection on line precipitation coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A preliminary implementation of flow injection online precipitation with in ductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was applied to the dete rmination of Cu in certified estuarine water SLEW-8. A solution of 2% sodiu m diethyldithiocarbamate in 1 M ammonium acetate (at pH 6.75) was used as p recipitant, which was mixed on-line with samples. The precipitate was colle cted in a knotted reactor/filter system, and subsequently dissolved using 5 0 mul of 4.32 M nitric acid (containing 10 mug/l Ga as a drift monitor) for the delivery to ICP-MS. The Knotted reactor/filter system was heated (at a round 70 degreesC) to enhance the precipitation and dissolution processes. It took 209 seconds to achieve a 5-fold preconcentration with a sample volu me of 250 mul. A result in good agreement with the certified value was obta ined using an, external calibration (with a correction for drift of the old ICP-MS system used).