A sensitive procedure for the rapid determination of arsenic(III) by flow injection analysis and chemiluminescence detection

A novel chemiluminescence flow injection procedure for the determination of As(III) in aqueous samples is described. The method involves injection of As(III) samples into a 1% (m/v) sodium hexametaphosphate in 0.02 M H₂SO₄ carrier stream, which then merges at a Y-piece with a reagent stream consisting of potassium permanganate (5.0 × 10⁻⁵ M) made up in the acidic sodium hexametaphosphate carrier solution. The chemiluminescence intensity of the resulting reaction mixture was measured at a photomultiplier tube operated at a voltage of 0.93 kV. Under optimized conditions, the method is characterised by a linear range from 0.5 to 5.0 μg l⁻¹, a detection limit of 0.3 μg l⁻¹ and a sampling frequency of 150 h⁻¹. The effects of common anionic and cationic interferences were investigated, and it was found that the only ions to cause serious interference were those which react with potassium permanganate, namely sulphide, iodide and ferrous.<br />