Use of thiourea in the determination of arsenic, antimony, bismuth, selenium and tellurium by hydride generation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

Abstract

A study was made of thiourea as an agent for the pre-reduction and masking of interferences in the multi-element determination of arsenic, antimony, bismuth, selenium and tellurium by hydride generation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Thiourea reduces arsenic and antimony from the pentavalent to the trivalent state, without preventing the determination of tetravalent selenium and tellurium. Thiourea also eliminates the interference from a number of metals in the determination of arsenic, antimony and bismuth, but it is not effective for selenium and tellurium.