Microvolume turbidimetry for rapid and sensitive determination of the acid labile sulfide fraction in waters after headspace single-drop microextraction with in situ generation of volatile hydrogen sulfide

In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of applying headspace single-drop microextraction with in-drop precipitation for the quantitative determination of the acid labile sulfide fraction (H2S, HS−, and S2− (free sulfide), amorphous FeS and some metal sulfide complexes–clusters as ZnS) in aqueous samples by microvolume turbidimetry. The methodology lies in the in situ hydrogen sulfide generation and subsequent sequestration into an alkaline microdrop containing ZnO22− and exposed to the headspace above the stirred aqueous sample. The ZnS formed in the drop was then determined by microvolume turbidimetry. The optimum experimental conditions of the proposed method were: 2 μL of a microdrop containing 750 mg L−1 Zn(II) in 1 mol L−1 NaOH exposed to the headspace of a 20-mL aqueous sample stirred at 1600 rpm during 80 s after derivatization with 1 mL of 6 mol L−1 HCl. An enrichment factor of 1710 was achieved in only 80 s. The calibration graph was linear in the range of 5–100 μg L−1 with a detection limit of 0.5 μg L−1. The repeatability, expressed as relative standard deviation, was 5.8% (N = 9). Finally, the proposed methodology was successfully applied to the determination of the acid labile sulfide fraction in different natural water samples.