Ultrasound-assisted emulsification solidified floating organic drops microextraction of ultra trace amount of Te (IV) prior to graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry determination

In the present study, a new, simple and efficient method for the preconcentration of ultra trace amounts of Te (IV) is developed using ultrasound-assisted emulsification solidified floating organic drops microextraction (USAE-SFODME) before graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry determination. In this method, tellurium is extracted into the fine droplets of 1-undecanol after chelate formation with the water soluble ligand, ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (APDC). Several factors such as pH, chelating agent amount, type and volume of the extracting solvent, sonication and centrifuging time that influence the extraction and complex formation are optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration graph is linear in the range of 0.01–0.24 ng mL−1 of tellurium in the original solution, with limit of detection of 0.003 ng mL−1. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for seven replicated determinations of tellurium ion at 0.08 ng mL−1 concentration level is calculated as 3.4%. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of Te (IV) in a standard soil and several water samples.