Interference with phosphate determination arsenate

Early colorimetric methods for arsenic analysis used the reaction of arsine gas with either mercuric bromide captured on filter paper to produce a yellow-brown stain (Gutzeit method) or with silver diethyl dithiocarbamate (SDDC) to produce a red dye. The SDDC method is still widely used in developing countries. The molybdate blue spectrophotometric method that is widely used for phosphate determination can be used for As(V), but the correction for P interference is difficult. Methods based on atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) linked to hydride generation (HG) or a graphite furnace (GF) have become widely used. Other sensitive and specihc arsenic detectors (e.g., AFS, ICP-MS, and ICP-AES) are becoming increasingly available. HG-AES, in particular, is now widely used for routine arsenic determinations because of its sensitivity, reliability, and relatively low capital cost. 

Silicate, arsenate, and germanate also form heteropoly acids, which on reduction yield molybdenum blue species with similar absorption maxima [97]. This positive interference in the determination of phosphate is particularly pronounced for silicate because of its relatively high concentration in many waters. However, the formation of silicomolyb-date may be suppressed by the addition of tartaric or oxalic acid to the molybdate reagent [98]. If, however, the organic acid is added after the formation of the heteropoly acid, the phosphomolybdate is destroyed, and this is used as the basis for determination of silicate in the presence of phosphate. Kinetic discrimination between phosphate and silicate, arsenate and germanate is also possible because of the faster rate of formation of phosphomolybdate. Thus, the widely adopted Murphy and Riley method employs a reagent mixture of acidic molybdate and antimonyl tartrate [83] at concentrations which are known to enhance the kinetics of phosphomolybdate and suppress the formation of silicomolybdate. 

Arsenites may also be determined by this procedure but must first be oxidised by treatment with nitric acid. Small amounts of antimony and tin do not interfere, but chromates, phosphates, molybdates, tungstates, and vanadates, which precipitate as the silver salts, should be absent. An excessive amount of ammonium salts has a solvent action on the silver arsenate. 

Determination of phosphate as ammonium molybdophosphate. This may be readily effected by precipitation with excess of ammonium molybdate in warm nitric acid solution arsenic, vanadium, titanium, zirconium, silica and excessive amounts of ammonium salts interfere. The yellow precipitate obtained may be weighed as either ammonium molybdophosphate, (NH4)3[PMo12O40], after drying at 200-400 °C, or as P205,24Mo03, after heating at 800-825 °C for about 30 minutes. 

Isaeva [181] described a phosphomolybdate method for the determination of phosphate in turbid seawater. Molybdenum titration methods are subject to extensive interferences and are not considered to be reliable when compared with more recently developed methods based on solvent extraction [182-187], such as solvent-extraction spectrophotometric determination of phosphate using molybdate and malachite green [188]. In this method the ion pair formed between malachite green and phosphomolybdate is extracted from the seawater sample with an organic solvent. This extraction achieves a useful 20-fold increase in the concentration of the phosphate in the extract. The detection limit is about 0.1 ig/l, standard deviation 0.05 ng-1 (4.3 xg/l in tap water), and relative standard deviation 1.1%. Most cations and anions found in non-saline waters do not interfere, but arsenic (V) causes large positive errors. 

Often, greater accuracy may be obtained, as in Volhard type titration, by performing a back titration of the excess silver ions. In such a case, a measured amount of standard silver nitrate solution is added in excess to a measured amount of sample. The excess Ag+ that remains after it reacts with the analyte is then measured by back titration with standard potassium thiocyanate (KSCN). If the silver salt of the analyte ion is more soluble than silver thiocyanate (AgSCN), the former should be filtered off from the solution. Otherwise, a low value error can occur due to overconsumption of thiocyanate ion. Thus, for the determination of ions (such as cyanide, carbonate, chromate, chloride, oxalate, phosphate, and sulfide, the silver salts of which are all more soluble than AgSCN), remove the silver salts before the back titration of excess Ag.+ On the other hand, such removal of silver salt is not necesary in the Volhard titration for ions such as bromide, iodide, cyanate, thiocyanate, and arsenate, because the silver salts of these ions are less soluble than AgSCN, and will not cause ary error. In the determination of chloride by Volhard titration, the solution should be made strongly acidic to prevent interference from carbonate, oxalate, and arsenate, while for bromide and iodide analysis titration is carried out in neutral media. 

A prerequisite for the molybdenum blue method is that all the arsenic has to be present as arsenate. After digestion with oxidizing acids, such as nitric acid, all the arsenic is converted into arsenate when appropriate heating time and temperatures are applied. The principle of this determination is the reaction of arsenate with ammonium molybdate in acidic medium to form an arsenate containing molybdenum heteropolyacid that can be reduced to molybdenum blue with stannous chloride, hydrazine, or ascorbic acid. Best results are obtained with hydrazine sulfate. The absorption maximum of the blue solution is between 840-860 nm (15). The most severe interferences for this method derive from phosphates and silicates. To remove interfering ions, distillation of arsenic as AsCb or AsBrs is often recommended (12,15). 

Silicate is determined by reaction with a solution of molybdate in an acidic medium to produce a complex molybdosilicic acid with a yellow color (400 nm). More accurate determinations are obtained by reduction of the complex to molybdenum blue (815 nm). Phosphates, arsenates, and german-ates cause interference because they react with molybdate to produce complexes of the same color. 

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