| Abstract: | Highly sensitive and selective methods for the determination of trace elements in waters and solutions are made possible by the combination of flotation and spectrophotometry (flotation spectrophotometry). The basis for it are multiply charged anion complexes of the analyte, which form sparingly soluble ion association complexes with singly charged basic dye cations in aqueous solution. Intense shaking of the aqueous solution with an organic solvent (having a low dielectric constant) results in the accumulation of these ion association complexes at the interface or on the vessel walls (flotation step). After separating the ion association complexes from the liquid phases, they are dissolved and dissociated in a polar organic solvent and the absorbance of the basic dye ions is measured as a function of the concentration of the analyte. By the example of the trace determination of arsenic in natural water, the possibilities of analytical chemistry by combination of flotation steps and spectrophotometry are demonstrated. According to the arsenic content, its determination can be performed by flotation spectrophotometry with crystal violet (detection limit 50 ng/ml As), by an indirect determination of arsenic via flotation spectrophotometry of molybdenum in the dodecamolybdoarsenic acid (detection limit 1 ng/ml As) or by the combination of collector precipitation of arsenic with zirconium hydroxide followed by froth flotation and flotation spectrophotometry as the determination technique (detection limit 0.05 ng/ml As). The reproducibilities of these variants are indicated and their accuracy is checked by comparison of methods. |
