DETERMINATION OF MANGANESE BY ELECTROTHERMAL ATOMIZATION ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY FOLLOWING COPRECIPITATION WITH YTTRIUM HYDROXIDE

Coprecipitation is applied to the determination of trace amounts of manganese by electrothermal atomisation atomic absorption spectrometry. Manganese (0.05-1 mu g) is coprecipitated quantitatively from the sample solution (50-500 ml) with yttrium hydroxide at pH 9.0-11.3. The atomic absorbance of manganese is increased about 3 times by using an yttrium-impregnated graphite cuvette. The calibration curve is linear from 0.002 to 0.04 mu g ml(-1) of manganese. Twenty-three different ions investigated did not produce serious interferences. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of trace amounts of manganese in zinc metal.