Flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination of trace cadmium in alloys and biological samples after solid-liquid extraction and preconcentration with use of nitroso-S

Cadmium is quantitatively retained by 2-nitroso-1-naphthol-4-sulfonic acid (nitroso-S) and tetradecyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride (TDBA) on microcrystalline naphthalene in the pH range 5.7-10.5 from a large volumes of aqueous solutions of various samples. After filtration, the solid mass consisting of cadmium complex and naphthalene is dissolved with 5 mL of dimethylformamide and the metal was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometric. Cadmium complex can alternatively be quantitatively adsorbed on tetradecyldimethylbenzylammonium-naphthalene adsorbent packed in a column and determined similarly. About 25 ng of cadmium can be concentrated in a column from 500 mL of aqueous sample, where its concentration is as low as 0.05 ng/mL. Eight replicate determinations of 0.1 μg/mL of cadmium in final DMF solution gave a mean absorbance of 0.060 with a relative standard deviation of 1.8 %. The sensitivity for 1 % absorption was 7.3 ng/mL. The interference of a large number of anions and cations has been studied and the optimized conditions developed were utilized for the trace determination of cadmium in various alloys and biological samples. (author)