Determination of gold by slurry electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry after preconcentration by Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas putida

Abstract

The accumulation of gold by bacterial cells and the possibility of using this preconcentration procedure prior to the determination of gold by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry were examined. Both batch and immobilization techniques for Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas putida were compared. Best analytical parameters were obtained for E. coli using a slurry sampling technique with sensitivity and detection limits for gold of 0.001 and 0.004 ng ml^–1, respectively, using platform atomization.