Determination of arsenic and antimony by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry using a small hydride generator

A sensitive method for the determination of arsenic and antimony by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry, using a glass vial (internal volume, 8.6 ml) as the hydride generator, is described. The optimum flow-rate of the carrier gas was 0.2 l min–1 and the hydrochloric acid concentration used was 0.25 M. The absolute sensitivities were 0.06 and 0.10 ng for arsenic and antimony, respectively. The relative standard deviations were around 2% for both elements. A masking solution consisting of thiourea and ascorbic acid proved to be effective for suppressing the effect of a number of interferents. The accuracy of the proposed method was checked by determining the contents of arsenic and antimony in two standard reference materials.