Determination of trace elements in plants using the direct current arc atomic-emission spectrometry

Plants connect together the atmosphere, the biosphere and the hydrosphere, participate in the migration of chemical elements and indicate an anthropogenic environmental pollution. For this reason, it is important to determine the content of a wide range of essential and toxic elements in plants. Atomic emission spectrometry with different sources of excitation of atoms is one of the most frequently used instrumental methods for determining the elemental composition of plants. Express determination of 23 essential and toxic elements in plant powders (without ashing and acid decomposition) using the atomic emission spectrometry with arc discharge (DC-arc AES) was developed. The special ways of obtaining spectra and of spectral information processing provided an increased accuracy of the analytical results in the concentration ranges from n ∙(10 -6 -10 -4 ) to 10 wt. %. The trueness of the results of the developed technique was verified by the means of the encrypted certified reference materials of the plants and matching them with the results obtained by the certified techniques of atomic emission and mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma. The application of the DC-arc AES technique to determine trace elements in plants from the ecologically clean and polluted areas with different landscapes, provided new analytical data for the interdisciplinary research. These data are traceable to the well-known international certified reference materials of plants.