Analytical methods for antimony speciation in waters at trace and ultratrace levels. A review

Abstract This review summarizes and discusses the analytical methods and techniques most frequently described in the literature for the determination of antimony species in waters (and possibly in other matrices) at ultratrace levels. The analytical methods for the separation and/or selective determination of Sb species fall into four main categories: 1. Chemical methods, which include such extraction techniques as: liquid-liquid and liquid-solid extraction, selective hydride generation and coprecipitation methods. 2. Chromatographic methods, which also includes a discussion of hyphenated techniques with different detectors. 3. Electrochemical methods based on the use of electrochemical detectors. 4. Kinetic methods The state-of-the-art of the main applications in waters and environmental samples and future trends are also reviewed.