Low-Temperature Electrothermal Vaporization of an 8-Quinolinolato Complex of Aluminum(III) for Sample Introduction in an Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometric Determination of Trace Aluminum

Abstract

A method based on the low-temperature electrothermal vaporization of an 8-quinolinolato complex from a tungsten boat cuvette is proposed for introducing a trace amount of aluminum present in a digested steel-making alloy or opal glass sample into an inductively coupled plasma for atomic emission spectrometric detection. The operating conditions were optimized and the effect of foreign ions was investigated. Zirconium(IV) was found to reduce the interferences from other foreign ions. The detection limit was found to be 0.12ng of aluminum and the precision in relative standard deviation for 2.0ng of aluminum was determined to be 6.1% (n=6). The aluminum contents in some standard samples determined by the proposed method were in good agreement with the certified values.