“…The following mixtures were also prepared in ultra pure water: glycerol (1.00 mol L À1 ), from Merck, and ascorbic acid (0.06 mol L À1 ), glycerol (1.00 mol L À1 ) and sodium hydroxide (3.00 mol L À1 ) from Merck, sodium and potassium tartrate (0.53 mol L À1 ), from SigmaeAldrich, and sodium hydroxide (3.00 mol L À1 ). These solutions and their respective concentrations were chosen to accord with those used in previous studies that showed they were efficient in extracting lead (Bonnet et al, 2003;Ferracin et al, 2002;Ioannidis and Zouboulis, 2006;Lee et al, 2003;Moutsatsou et al, 2006;Orhan, 2005;Raghavan et al, 2000).…”