Selective determination of ultra trace amounts of gold by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry after dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction

A simple, rapid and sensitive method is proposed for selective determination of ultra trace amounts of gold from different samples. The method is based on highly efficient separation and pre-concentration of gold by dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction of gold followed by its determination with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The pre-concentration procedure results in quantitative extraction of gold by victoria blue R from a 10-mL sample into fine droplets of chlorobenzene, with a sedimented volume of 25 μL. Then, 20 μL of 0.04% Pd(NO3)2, as chemical modifier, followed by 10 μL of the sedimented phase were consecutively pipetted into the same auto-sampler device and the content is injected into the graphite tube and the gold content is determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. After optimizing the extraction conditions and instrumental parameters, a pre-concentration factor of about 388 is obtained for the system. The analytical curve is linear in a concentration range of 0.03–0.5 ng mL−1. The detection limit and relative standard deviation are 0.005 ng mL−1 and 4.2%, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the extraction and determination of gold in tap water and silicate ore samples.