Laser-induced thermal lens spectrometry after cloud point extraction for trace analysis of mercury in water and drug samples

Abstract

Background: We have developed spectrometric determination of mercury in micro volume using laser-induced thermal lens spectrometry (LI-TLS) after cloud point extraction (CPE). TLS as a sensitive method is particularly suited for small volume samples such as that of the remained phase after CPE. Results: Under optimum conditions, the calibration graph was linear in the range of 1 to 50 µg L-1 with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.2 µg L-1. The preconcentration factor of 200 was achieved for 10-mL samples containing the analyte, and relative standard deviations were lower than 4%. Conclusion: Combination of LI-TLS with CPE introduced a powerful method for trace analysis of mercury. The method was successfully applied for the determination of Hg+2 in water and drug samples.