QUANTIFICATION OF ANTIMONY IN BRAZILIAN POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE (PET) BOTTLES BY X-RAY FLUORESCENCE AND CHEMOMETRIC EVALUATION TO VERIFY THE PRESENCE OF RECYCLED PET THROUGH IRON CONTENT. Antimony is a common catalyst in the synthesis of polyethylene terephthalate used for food-grade bottles manufacturing. However, antimony residues in final products are transferred to juices, soft drinks or water. The literature reports mentions of toxicity associated to antimony. In this work, a green, fast and direct method to quantify antimony, sulfur, iron and copper, in PET bottles by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry is presented. 2.4 to 11 mg Sb kg(-1) were found in 20 samples analyzed. The coupling of the multielemental technique to chemometric treatment provided also the possibility to classify PET samples between bottle-grade PET/recycled PET blends by Fe content.34813891393