Investigation of problems associated with the determination of iodine in glacial acetic acid samples using flow injection analysis-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

Determination of iodine in glacial acetic acid is a major concern of acetic acid manufacturers and consumers. The use of ICP-MS for iodine determinations in acetic acid is hindered by memory effects that produce an elevated background signal necessitating long rinse times between samples. In this work, different analysis methods are employed in an attempt to minimize memory and matrix effects allowing for the accurate determination of iodine in glacial acetic acid using ICP-MS. Ammonium hydroxide solutions (3.7 and 7.4 M) were better at reducing the elevated iodine signal present after the introduction of an acetic acid sample than water or 0.3 M nitric acid. Memory effects were decreased when the sample was introduced by flow injection rather than constant sample aspiration. Peak areas generated by flow injection decreased significantly with increasing ammonium hydroxide concentration in the carrier solution. Iodine determinations made with 1.7 M ammonium hydroxide as the carrier solution were higher than determinations made with 3.7 M ammonium hydroxide as the carrier solution for the same samples, however, the percentage difference between the two determinations varied widely from sample to sample. All samples were analyzed by the method of standard additions in an attempt to compensate for matrix effects. This work illustrates the importance of the carrier solution in the determination of iodine in glacial acetic acid samples.