Analytical Sciences


Abstract − Analytical Sciences, 16(2), 157 (2000).

Determination of Trace Amounts of Beryllium(II) in DrinkingWater and of Beryllium Vapor in Air by Graphite-FurnaceAtomic Absorption Spectrophotometry UsingAcetylacetone as a Chelating Agent
Hsien-Wen PENG and Mao-Sung KUO
Department of Environmental Science, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan, Republic of China
A chelate of beryllium acetylacetonate, Be(acac)2, was formed from beryllium(II) (1.0 - 40.0 ng) in drinking water (100ml) containing acetylacetone (0.2%(v/v), 7.0 - 14.0 ml) in ammonium acetate buffer (14 - 28 mmol) together with aslightly acidic solution (0.2%(v/v) of HCl, 3.0 ml) at pH 5.5. The Be(acac)2 chelate was preconcentrated on a Sep-PakC18 cartridge and was eluted with methanol (2.00 ml). A portion (20 ml) was introduced into a graphite cuvette and wasatomized according to a temperature program. The method detection limit (3sigma) for beryllium(II) was 2.3 ng/l; thecalibration graph was linear up to 400 ng/l. Accuracies of 97.0 - 101% were obtained when testing a quality control (QC)water sample (HPS #290608) and a synthetic natural water standard (Standard Reference Material 1643d) with a relativestandard deviation (n=4) within 2.3%. The proposed method could be applied to the measurement of beryllium vapor inair with a detection limit of 0.23 ng.