Simultaneous determination of trace metals in sea water using dithiocarbamate pre-concentration and inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry

Abstract

A method based on dithiocarbamate pre-concentration and inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry is described for the simultaneous determination of cadmium, copper, iron, molybdenum, nickel, vanadium and zinc in sea water. The metals are extracted from 500 g of sea water with ammonium tetramethylenedithiocarbamate-diethylammonium diethyldithiocarbamate in chloroform and back-extracted into nitric acid; the sea water concentration factor is 250 or 500. Advantages of the method include high precision, simplicity of calibration and a detection capability in the nanograms per litre range. The method has been applied to Japan Sea, Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean samples.