Flow injection analysis of Zn and Co in beverages, biological, environmental and pharmaceutical samples

A new, simple, rapid and selective flow injection analysis (FIA) method for the spectrophotometric quantification (speciation of inorganic and organic form) of Zn and Co with ammonium thiocyanate and malachite green (MG) in the presence of surfactants (CPC and TX-100) is described. The value of apparent molar absorptivity of the Zn- and Co- complexes are (1.23) × 104 and (8.67) × 103 L mol–1cm–1 at absorption maximum, 635 nm, respectively. The detection limit (amount causing a peak height > 3 s) is 15 ppb Zn and 20 ppb Co, whereas their optimum working ranges for the quantitative determinations are 0.05–2.0 ppm Zn and 0.07–2.5 ppm Co in the real samples. The sample thoughput of the method is 120 samples/h at the flow rate of 5.0 mL/min with rel. std. dev. of < ± 1%. The method is free from interferences of almost all ions which are commonly associated with these metals in the complex materials. The composition of the complexes and their reaction mechanism involved are discussed. The effect of FIA and analytical variables for the determination of the metals are optimized. The method has been applied to the quantification of Zn and Co in beverages, biological, environmental, and pharmaceutical samples.