Use of slurry suspension sample introduction technique in fast multielement analysis of multimineral and multivitamin formulations by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

A slurry suspension sampling technique has been developed and optimized for rapid multielemental analysis of multivitamin/multimineral preparations using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The following macro-, micro- and trace-elements: Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, Cr, Al, Ag, B, Ba, Bi, Cd, Co, Cu, Ga, In, Ni, Ph, Zn, As and Se were determined by the proposed method. The lower detection limits were obtained for Mn, Mg, Cu and Ca whereas the highest for Bi, Pb, As and Se. Consequently the method can be used as a fast screening method. A wet-acid mineralization method was applied as total recovery method for comparative purposes. Samples were prepared as slurries at a concentration of 5% (m/v) in aqueous acidic media (0.8 M HNO3). Various factors affecting the sensitivity of the method were optimized. The obtained results were subjected to two-way analysis of variance to examine any significant difference between the developed slurry procedure and the wet-acid complete decomposition. Finally, the slurry suspension technique was found to be applicable in routine quality control and contamination monitoring of multimineral preparations. For the analyzed commercial preparations, the found elemental concentrations are compared to those appearing in the label of the products. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.