543.422.5 We have studied the effect of the nature and concentration of surfactants on the analytical signal of zinc. We show that of all the studied surfactants, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate increases the sensitivity and selectivity of the zinc determination the most. We have designed a method for atomic absorption determination of zinc in food products using sodium dodecylsulfate as a modifier. The detection limit for zinc according to the proposed procedure is C min = 0.003 µg/mL.
Introduction.Increasing demands on chemical analysis are due to both the appearance of new objects to be monitored and also awareness of the significance of previously known objects. The problem of the detection limit for micro amounts of toxicants in food products and improving the accuracy of methods for their determination has become increasingly acute. According to the international requirements of the Joint FAO/WHO 1 Codex Alimentarius Commission, eight metals require careful hygiene monitoring: mercury, cadmium, lead, arsenic, copper, tin, zinc, iron. The atomic absorption spectroscopy method is the most widely used for determination of zinc in various objects of complex chemical composition [1][2][3][4]. In this case, atomization of the solutions is carried out in an air-acetylene flame, in which no significant elemental interferences are observed in the determination of zinc [5]. When using a propanebutane-air flame, we have established that considerable interferences occur due to the chemical composition of the analyte solutions. The use of this flame would be more valuable, since incorporation of the method into analytical practice is hindered because acetylene is expensive and in short supply.The usual aqueous solutions today are increasingly often taking a back seat to other working solutions: "organized media", in particular aqueous micellar solutions of surfactants [6]. Surfactants have been successfully used in atomic absorption analysis [7][8][9][10][11][12][13].The aim of this work was to improve the sensitivity and selectivity of atomic absorption determination of zinc by chemical modification of the analyte solution, and also to establish the feasibility of going from an air-acetylene flame to a low-temperature propane-butane-air flame as a cheaper and more accessible mix.Experimental Section. We used the following surfactants: sodium dodecylsulfate (DSNa), sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, Tween-20, Tween-80, Triton X-100, Bridge-35, and cetylpyridinium chloride. In the initial solutions, the surfactant fraction was ω = 0.5 wt%. From these solutions, model solutions were prepared with weight fraction of the surfactant solutions equal to 0.005, 0.010, 0.015, 0.025, 0.035, 0.050, 0.075, 0.100, and 0.125 wt%. The surfactant concentration was the same in the blank solutions (without zinc). The calibration solutions for the range of optimal zinc concentrations (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0 mg/L) were obtained by diluting the interstate standard sample for composition of a zinc ion solution 0032:1998 (DSZU 2 022.63-9...