A technique for extraction and storage of water samples for Mn, Cd, and Pb determination by atomic absorption spectroscopy

A procedure is presented for stabilizing metal chelates which allows extracted metals to be stored for at least two weeks at room temperature in an acetone HCl solution. Some signal enhancement associated with methyl isobutyl ketone solutions is also retained with the acetone HCl solution. This technique should permit greater time flexibility in atomic absorption analysis involving multi element organic extractions of large numbers of water samples.