Determination of some heavy metals by flame atomic absorption spectrometry before coprecipitation with neodymium hydroxide.

A procedure is described for the determination of trace amounts of Cd(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Pb(II), Fe(III), Co(II), and Mn(II) that combines flame atomic absorption spectrometry with neodymium hydroxide coprecipitation. The influences of analytical parameters (amount of neodymium, pH of the model solutions, etc.) that affect quantitative recoveries of the analyte ions were investigated. The effects of concomitant ions were also examined. The detection limits for analytes were found in the range of 0.2-3.3 microg/L. The validation of the presented procedure was controlled by analysis of certified reference materials (National Institute of Standards and Technology 1570a spinach leaves and TMDA 54.4 fortified lake water). The applications of the procedure were performed by the analysis of water, food, and herbal plants from Turkey.