On‐line Liquid‐liquid Extraction Coupled to a Reversed Micellar‐mediated Chemiluminescence Detection System: Application to the Determination of Amino/Nitroaromatic Compounds

A simple and fast flow method for the trace level determination of p‐toluidine, 2‐methyl‐5‐nitroaniline, and 2,4‐dinitroaniline in aqueous samples is reported. These amino/nitroaromatics are related to trinitrotoluene (TNT) and appear during the degradation process of the explosive. The chemical principles of ion‐pair formation and liquid‐liquid extraction are applied: In aqueous acidic medium, the protonated analyte HA]⁺ makes an ion‐pair with the tetrachloroaurate(III) ion, followed by on‐line ion‐pair extraction into the dichloromethane carrier used. After membrane separation, the CH₂Cl₂ containing the ion‐pair, HA]⁺AuCl₄]⁻, is mixed with the reversed micellar luminescent reagent of luminol (in 0.3 M Na₂CO₃) prepared from cetyl‐trimethylammonium chloride in CH₂Cl₂‐cyclohexane and the AuCl₄⁻‐luminol chemiluminescence (CL) output is recorded. The detection limits (S/N> 3) are: p‐toluidine, 1.0 × 10⁻⁴M; 2‐methyl‐5‐nitroaniline, 1.0 × 10⁻⁷ M; 2,4‐dinitroaniline, 1.0 × 10⁻⁷ M, while the calibration curves are linear between 1.0 × 10⁻⁴ — 1.0 × 10⁻² M for all the compounds. Although spectral studies indicated the formation and extraction of a very small amount of the ion‐pair species, the reversed micellar‐mediated CL detection system provides an alternative procedure for the determination of degradation products of the explosive TNT in environmental aqueous samples.