Selective speciation of inorganic antimony on tetraethylenepentamine bonded silica gel column and its determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

A speciation system for antimony (III) and antimony (V) ions that based on solid phase extraction on tetraethylenepentamine bonded silica gel has been established. Antimony was determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS). Analytical conditions including pH, sample volume, etc., were studied for the quantitative recoveries of Sb (III) and Sb (V). Matrix effects on the recovery were also investigated. The recovery values and detection limit for antimony (III) at optimal conditions were found as >95% and 0.020 μg L−1, respectively. Preconcentration factor was calculated as 50. The capacity of adsorption for the tetraethylenepentamine bonded silica gel was 7.9 mg g−1. The validation was checked by analysis of NIST SRM 1573a Tomato laves and GBW 07605 Tea certified reference materials. The procedure was successfully applied to speciation of antimony in tap water, mineral water and spring water samples. Total antimony was determined in refined salt, unrefined salt, black tea, rice, tuna fish and soil samples after microwave digestion and presented enrichment method combination.