Low-temperature volatilization of Be acetylacetonate for sample introduction in ETV-ICP-AES

A new method for determination of trace beryllium by electrothermal vaporiz ation (ETV)-inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AE S) with the use of acetylacetone as chemical modifier is developed. Trace b eryllium was vaporized as acetylacetonate into plasma at a low-temperature of 700 degreesC, and the vaporization behavior of acetylacetonate of beryll ium was investigated in detail. Under the optimized conditions, beryllium a cetylacetonate could be quantitatively vaporized. The detection limit of be ryllium was 0.2 ng ml(-1), compared with the conventional pneumatic nebuliz ation ICP-AES, the detection limit could be improved by 45-fold. The relati ve standard deviations for 0.01 mug ml(-1) of Be was 4.1%. The linear range of the calibration curve covered three orders of magnitude. The proposed m ethod was applied to the determination of trace beryllium in human hair sta ndard reference material and the results obtained were in good agreement wi th the reference values. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved .