Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2017
A clean-up procedure for soil and plant samples utilizing a non-ionic exchange resin column followed by treatment with lead acetate was developed for determining microgram quantities of hexaflurate (potassium hexafluoroarsenate) spectrophotometrically. The method is sensitive to 0.45 ppm with a standard deviation of 0.09 ppm with a recovery of better than 85%. Samples high in organic matter require this treatment to remove interfering substances. Soil samples containing little or no organic matter could be analyzed by using either the lead acetate treatment or the non-ionic exchange resin column. Soil and plant samples analyzed 5 to 7 yr following treatment of south Texas soils for pricklypear (Opuntia spp.) control were found to contain trace quantities of hexaflurate. Downward movement of hexaflurate is either very slow or plants continually assimilate the ion and redeposit it on the soil surface through decomposition of plant parts. The tri- and pent-oxide forms of arsenic did not interfere with analysis of the hexaflurate ion using the clean-up procedure.