Determination of trace uranium (VI) using its self-assembly with a tetradentate–monodentate ditopic ligand by resonance light scattering

ABSTRACT

We describe here a resonance light scattering (RLS) method for uranium (VI) detection by using phosphorylethanol-amido-salophen (PAS) as optical probe. PAS is a tetradentate–monodentate ditopic ligand in which the tetradentate and monodentate ligands are salophen moiety and phosphate group, respectively. PAS can chelate uranyl with its salophen moiety. The chelated uranyl can connect phosphate group in another PAS through coordination reaction. This causes the self-assembly of PAS with uranyl to form a metallo-supramolecular polymer, resulting in a production of strong RLS signal. The RLS method was established based on the self-assemble. The RLS intensity is linearly related to the concentration of uranium (VI) in the 0.8–32 ng mL⁻¹ range, with a detection limit of 0.24 ng mL⁻¹ detection limit under optimal conditions. The method was successfully applied to determine uranium (VI) in environmental water samples with the recoveries between 97.1% and 102.6%.

KEYWORDS:

• Uranium
• resonance light scattering
• ditopic ligand
• self-assembly
• supramolecular polymer

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China [NSFC Nos. 11275091 and 11475079] for financial support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China [NSFC Nos. 11275091 and 11475079] for financial support.