Determination of As, Cd, Pb and Se in DORM-1 dogfish muscle reference material using alkaline solubilization and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry with Ir+Rh as permanent modifiers or Pd+Mg in solution

In this work, tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) was used to solubilize the DORM-1 dogfish muscle certified reference material as a model substance for the determination of As, Cd, Pb and Se by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET AAS). The sample was mixed with a small amount of TMAH and heated to 60 °C for 10 min in a water bath. After dissolution, As and Se were determined using palladium and magnesium nitrates as a chemical modifier added in solution. For Cd and Pb, best results were obtained with a mixture of 250 μg of each of iridium and rhodium as permanent modifiers. In both cases, the calibration was performed with aqueous solutions in 0.2% v/v HNO3. The temperature program for each analyte was optimized using pyrolysis and atomization curves established with the fish reference material. The detection limits in dry samples and the characteristic mass values were: Cd 0.005 μg g−1 and 0.9 pg; Pb 0.04 μg g−1 and 7.6 pg; As 0.4 μg g−1 and 13 pg and Se 0.6 μg g−1 and 20 pg, respectively. Results from the determination of these elements in the DORM-1 certified fish reference material were within the 95% confidence interval of the certified values.