Application of polyurethane foam loaded with BTAC in an on-line preconcentration system: cadmium determination by FAAS

In the present paper, the use of polyurethane foam modified by 2-(2-benzothiazolylazo)-2-p-cresol (BTAC) as a sorbent in an on-line preconcentration system to determine cadmium trace levels by FAAS is proposed. The procedure was based on the chemical sorption of cadmium (II) ions onto a minicolumn packed with polyurethane foam, followed by 0.10 mol l−1 hydrochloric acid elution and direct determination by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The flow system was operated in a time-based mode. Chemical and flow variables were studied. Results demonstrated that sample solutions containing cadmium(II) in the range of concentration from 0.91 to 30.00 μg l−1, pH between 6.50 and 9.25 could be determinated by this procedure, in a preconcentration time of 1 min. Flow rates in preconcentration and elution steps were 7.00 and 4.00 ml min−1, respectively. The precision of the preconcentration procedure (evaluated as standard deviation of solutions containing 1.0–30.0 μg l−1 of cadmium) varied in the range from 5 to 1%. The preconcentration factor, calculated as the ratio of the linear section of the slopes of the analytical curves before and after preconcentration, was 41, for a volume sample of 7.00 ml. The detection limit was 0.27 μg l−1 for a preconcentration time of 1 min. The proposed procedure was applied for determination of cadmium in biological reference materials. Achieved results demonstrated that the procedure can be applied for analysis of biological materials with satisfactory accuracy.