Simultaneous IСP-MS determination of trace metals in natural water and snow after their preconcentration on novel adsorbent based on Al₂O₃ impregnated with Alizarin Complexone

ABSTRACT

A simple and available method for on-line preparation of the adsorbent and solid phase extraction procedure for multi-element determination by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been proposed. The adsorbent (Al₂O₃-PB-AC) was synthesised by sequential impregnation of Al₂O₃ with Polybrene (PB) and Alizarin Complexone (AC). Cd(II), Cr(III), Ni(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) were quantitatively recovered using Al₂O₃-PВ-AC from aqueous solutions at pH 6.5 and at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min⁻¹. All the elements can easily be eluted by 3.0 mL 0.5 M HNO₃. A mini-column packed with 0.100 g Al₂O₃-PB-AC retained all elements quantitatively from up to 50 mL multi-element solution with an enrichment factor of 16.7. The relative standard deviation for five replicate determinations was 3.5%, 7.3%, 6.2%, 7.4% and 4.7% for Cd(II), Cr(III), Ni(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II), respectively, for determination of 5 μg L⁻¹ level. The developed method was applied for SPE-ICP-MS determination of Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn in snow and river waters.

KEYWORDS:

• Al₂O₃
• Alizarin Complexone
• impregnated
• preconcentration
• multi-element determination
• ICP-MS

Highlights

• Al₂O₃ layer-by-layer modified with Polybrene and Alizarin Complexone was proposed.

• Mini-column filled with adsorbent was used for preconcentration in dynamic mode.

• Al₂O₃-PB-AC separates of Zn, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb from other metal ions.

• The method was applied in natural waters and snow samples.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation [project No.4.6343.2017 for Siberian Federal University].