Speciation Determination of Chromium(VI) and Chromium(III) in Soil Samples after Cloud Point Extraction

Speciation of chromium using chronoamperometric biosensors based on screen-printed electrodes

Chronoamperometric assays based on tyrosinase and glucose oxidase (GOx) inactivation have been developed for the monitoring of Cr(III) and Cr(VI). Tyrosinase was immobilized by crosslinking on screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) containing tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) as electron transfer mediator. The tyrosinase/SPC(TTF)E response to pyrocatechol is inhibited by Cr(III). This process, that is not affected by Cr(VI), allows the determination of Cr(III) with a capability of detection of 2.0±0.2 μM and a reproducibility of 5.5%. GOx modified screen-printed carbon platinised electrodes (SPCPtEs) were developed for the selective determination of Cr(VI) using ferricyanide as redox mediator. The biosensor was able to discriminate two different oxidation states of chromium being able to reject Cr(III) and to detect the toxic species Cr(VI). Chronoamperometric response of the biosensor towards glucose decreases with the presence of Cr(VI), with a capability of detection of 90.5±7.6 nM and a reproducibility of 6.2%. A bipotentiostatic chronoamperometric biosensor was finally developed using a tyrosinase/SPC(TTF)E and a GOx/SPC(Pt)E connected in array mode for the simultaneous determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in spiked tap water and in waste water from a tannery factory samples.

Old and New Flavors of Flame (Furnace) Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

This paper presents some recent applications of Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS) to different matrices and samples. The time window selected was from 2006 up to March, 2011, and several aspects related to food, biological fluids, environmental, and technological samples analyses were reported and discussed. In addition, the chemometrics application for FAAS methods development was also taken into account, as well as the use of metal tube atomizers in air/acetylene flame. Preconcentration methods coupled to FAAS were discussed, and several approaches related to speciation, flotation, ionic liquids, among others were discussed. This paper can be interesting for researchers and FAAS users in order to see the state of the art of this technique.