Trace enrichment and determination of gold by flow injection inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. Part II. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Abstract

A flow injection system incorporating a microcolumn of sulfhydryl cotton fibre was combined with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for the on-line preconcentration and determination of gold in natural waters. Use of a sampling time of 10 min (40 ml) and an eluent (KCN) volume of 250 µl resulted in a nominal preconcentration factor of 160. The limit of detection was 0.19 ng l^–1 and the precision was 3.6% at the 5 ng l^–1 level. Application to the determination of gold in natural waters was demonstrated.