Vortex-Assisted and Cloud Point Extraction of Cadmium, Lead, Copper and Zinc in Different Personal Care Product Samples

A rapid vortex assisted--cloud point extraction (VA--CPE) method was developed to separate cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and lead (Pb) in accordance with important parameters. Cd and Pb was determined in personnel care products (PCPs) by Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (ETAAS), however Cu and Zn was determined by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS). Triton X-100 and xylenol orange were used as a chelating agent. The important factors including pH, Ligand Volume (LV), Vortex Time (Vt), Centrifuge Time (Ct), Centrifuge (rpm) and volume of Triton X-100 as well as volume of chloroform and concentration of surfactant were optimized. The Certified Reference Material (CRM) (wheat flour-1567 a) and standard addition recovery test was used to analyze the accuracy of proposed method. Detection limits (LODs) of metals like, Cd, Pb, Cu and Zn were 0.001 mg/L, 0.01 mg/L, 0.05 mg/L and 0.1 mg/L respectively. The method has been successfully applied to real samples. Keywords: heavy metals, personnel care products, micelle mediated, atomic absorption spectrometry, vortex-assisted extraction