Hydride Preconcentration for Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry

Studies are presented describing an improved application of the NaBH 4 reduction of soluble arsenite to form arsine as a preconcentration approach for ultra-trace level arsenic determination by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. Specialized analyte introduction techniques are described for elimination of reaction by-products that would normally extinguish a medium power plasma discharge. An approach is presented to minimize the need for background correction and facilitate a superior arsenic detection limit (≤0.03 ng/ml) in a relatively inexpensive 1.2 kW inductively coupled plasma system.