Speciation analysis of tellurium by solid-phase extraction in the presence of ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Abstract

Under acidic conditions tellurium(IV) formed a complex with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC). The tellurium(IV) complex was completely retained on a non-polar Isolute silica-based octadecyl (C(18)) sorbent-containing solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge, while the uncomplexed Te(VI) passed through the cartridge and remained as a free species in the solution. Only partial Te(IV) was retained on the SPE cartridge for samples without addition of APDC. On the basis of different retention behaviours of the complexed Te(IV) and uncomplexed Te(VI), a simple and highly sensitive method is proposed for the determination of total tellurium and Te(VI) by SPE separation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) detection. The Te(IV) concentration was calculated as the difference between total tellurium and Te(VI) concentrations. The detection limit (3 sigma) is 3 ng L(-1) tellurium. Factors affecting the separation and detection of tellurium species were investigated. Coexisting ions did not show significant interferences with the Te(IV)-APDC complex retention and the subsequent ICP-MS detection of Te. The method has been successfully applied to the tellurium speciation analysis in waters with spiked recoveries for Te(IV) and Te(VI) of 86.0-108% and 87.1-97.4%, respectively.

Speciation of inorganic tellurium from seawater by ICP‐MS following magnetic SPE separation and preconcentration

“…the literature for speciation of tellurium is shown in Table 4. As could be seen, the LODs of this method are much lower than those obtained by SPE-HG-AAS [32], SPE-ICP-MS [12], SPE-ICP-AFS [9], LLE-AAS [1], CE-UV [33], and HPLC-ICP-MS [4].…”

“…However, the method could not exactly detect the Te(IV) in seawater due to the deficient LOD. Yu et al [12] described a procedure for the speciation of Te(IV, VI) by SPE-ICP-MS. Te(IV) complex with APDC was completely retained on a nonpolar silica-based octadecyl (C18) sorbent-containing SPE cartridge, while the uncomplexed Te(VI) passed through the cartridge and remained as a free species in the solution prior to its determination by ICP-MS. The total Te concentration was also obtained by ICP-MS.…”

Speciation and determination of ultra trace amounts of inorganic tellurium in environmental water samples by dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

“…Several instrumental techniques have been applied for the determination of inorganic tellurium speciation. These include inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) [6,7], inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) [8], electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) [3,[9][10][11][12], hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HG-AAS) [13,14], hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS) [15][16][17][18], gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) [19], cathodic stripping voltammetry [20], capillary electrophoresis with UV detection (CE-UV) [21], capillary electrophoresis coupled with ICP-MS detection (CE-ICP-MS) [22] and anion exchange HPLC-ICP-MS [23,24]. Low concentration and matrix interference are two problems in detecting tellurium compounds.…”

Determination of Tellurium in Tellurium-Containing Organic Compounds by Microwave Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry

“…It took 60 min at 130 o C to complete decomposition of the substance. minerals, rocks) with tellurium content 0.0-100 mg g -1 , [24], coal, [25], in lead and lead alloys [26], in the environment (water, plants, biological materials) [27][28][29]. Such techniques as atomic emission spectrometry (AES) with inductively coupled (ICP) or microwave (MP) plasma, in conjunction with mass spectrometry, [30][31][32][33], atomic fluorescence spectrometry, [34][35][36], the optical emission spectrometry [37] are used for the tellurium and tellurium trace analysis in various objects.…”