Chromium and iron determinations in food and herbal plant samples by atomic absorption spectrometry after solid phase extraction on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) disk.

A preconcentration-separation procedure has been established based on solid phase extraction of Fe(III) and Cr(III) on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) disk. The analyte ions were quantitatively recovered at pH 8.0 on single-walled carbon nanotubes disk that contains 30 mg of nanotube. The influences of matrix components were tolerable. The detection limits for iron and chromium were calculated as 2.12 and 4.08 microg/l, respectively. The presented method was validated by the analysis of lichen (IAEA-336), CRM025-050 Metals on soil and BCR-032 Moroccan Phosphate rock certified reference materials. The method was successfully applied to the preconcentration and separation of iron and chromium in some food and herbal plant samples from Turkey. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.