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

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

Journal of Separation Science 2008, 31, 760-767
Chaozhang Huang, Bin Hu

Abstract: A new method was developed for the speciation of inorganic tellurium species in seawater by inductively coupled plasma-MS (ICP-MS) following selective magnetic SPE (MSPE) separation. Within the pH range of 2-9, tellurite (Te(IV)) could be quantitatively adsorbed on gamma-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (gamma-MPTMS) modified silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), while the tellurate (Te(VI)) was not retained and remained in solution. Without filtration or centrifugation, these tellurite-loaded MNPs could be separated easily from the aqueous solution by simply applying external magnetic field. The Te(IV) adsorbed on the MNPs could be recovered quantitatively using a solution containing 2 mol/L HCl and 0.03 mol/L K₂Cr₂O₇. Te(VI) was reduced to Te(IV) by L-cysteine prior to the determination of total tellurium, and its assay was based on subtracting Te(IV) from total tellurium. The parameters affecting the separation were investigated systematically and the optimal separation conditions were established. Under the optimal conditions, the LOD obtained for Te(IV) was 0.079 ng/L, while the precision was 7.0% (C = 10 ng/L, n = 7). The proposed method was successfully applied to the speciation of inorganic tellurium in seawater.

• This paper is free to view to spectroscopyNOW registered users until the end of June 2008. After this time it will be available via Wiley's Pay-Per-View service for US$25.
• Click here to access the abstract of this paper. From here you can progress to read the full paper.
• Click here for more details about Journal of Separation Science