Preconcentration and determination of boron in milk, infant formula, and honey samples by solid phase extraction-electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

This work presents alternative procedures for the electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric determination of boron in milk, infant formulas, and honey samples. Honey samples (10% m/v) were diluted in a medium containing 1% v/v HNO3 and 50% v/v H2O2 and introduced in the atomizer. A mixture of 20 µg Pd and 0.5 µg Mg was used for chemical modification. Calibration was carried out using aqueous solutions prepared in the same medium, in the presence of 10% m/v sucrose. The detection limit was 2 µg g− 1, equivalent to three times the standard error of the estimate (sy/x) of the regression line. For both infant formulas and milk samples, due to their very low boron content, we used a procedure based on preconcentration by solid phase extraction (Amberlite IRA 743), followed by elution with 2 mol L− 1 hydrochloric acid. Detection limits were 0.03 µg g− 1 for 4% m/v honey, 0.04 µg g− 1 for 5% m/v infant formula and 0.08 µg mL− 1 for 15% v/v cow milk. We confirmed the accuracy of the procedure by comparing the obtained results with those found via a comparable independent procedure, as well by the analysis of four certified reference materials.