Screening of dissolved heavy metals (Cu,Zn, Mn,Al, Cd,Ni, Pb) in seawater by a liquid-membrane–ICP–MS approach

A bulk liquid membrane system has been developed and applied to the simultaneous separation and preconcentration of up to seven heavy metals (copper, zinc, lead, cadmium, aluminium, manganese, and nickel) in seawater. Copper was selected to optimize transport conditions and then, under these conditions, the simultaneous extraction of other heavy metals was studied. The system achieved preconcentration yields ranging between 44.11% (Cd) and 77.77% (Cu) after nine hours of operation, the effectiveness of metal transport being Cu > Zn > Pb > Mn > Ni > Al > Cd. The system was applied to the preconcentration of four real seawater samples before their quantification by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP–MS). Compared with the analytical procedures commonly used for trace metal determination in oceanography, the results obtained demonstrated that the new system may be used as a very clean (sample contamination-free), simple, and one-step alternative for semiquantitative, and even quantitative, simultaneous determination of heavy metals in seawater.     

Online determination of copper in aluminum alloy by microchip solvent extraction using isotope dilution ICP-MS method

Isotope dilution mass spectroscopy (IDMS)/ICP-MS combined with microchip solvent extraction was successfully applied for the online determination of copper in an aluminum alloy. The microchip solvent extraction was developed for the separation of Cu from major element, and optimal pH range was wider than that of the batchwise extraction method. The dimensions of the microchip were 30 mm × 70 mm and that of micro-channel on the microchip was 180 μm wide and 40 μm deep. The copper complex with 8-hydroxyquinoline was extracted into o-xylene at pH 5.5 and back extracted with 0.1 mol l⁻¹ nitric acid at flow rate of 20 μl min⁻¹. The total extraction efficiency (water/organic solvent/nitric acid) was around 40%. IDMS/ICP-MS was coupled with solvent extraction for precise determination of Cu. The extraction and back-extraction on the microchip took about 1 s and the total measurement time for the IDMS/ICP-MS was about 40 s/sample. The blank value of this method was 0.1 ng g⁻¹. The proposed method was used for the determination of Cu in Al standard materials (JSAC 0121-C, The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry and 7074 Al alloy, Nippon Light Metal Co. Ltd.). The obtained analytical results are in good agreement with the certified values.     

Direct μ-flow injection isotope dilution ICP-MS for the determination of heavy metals in oil samples

The determination of trace elements in oil samples and their products is of high interest as their presence significantly affects refinery processes and the environment by possible impact of their combustion products. In this context, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) plays an important role due to its outstanding analytical properties in the quantification of trace elements. In this work, we present the accurate and precise determination of selected heavy metals in oil samples by making use of the combination of μ-flow direct injection and isotope dilution ICP-MS (ICP-IDMS). Spike solutions of ⁶²Ni, ⁹⁷Mo, ¹¹⁷Sn and ²⁰⁶Pb were prepared in an organic solvent, mixed directly with the diluted oil samples and tested to be fit for purpose for the intended ID approach. The analysis of real samples revealed strong matrix effects affecting the ICP-MS sensitivity, but not the isotope ratio measurements, so that accurate results are obtained by ICP-IDMS. Typical relative standard deviations were about 15% for peak area and peak height measurements, whereas the isotope ratios were not significantly affected (RSD < 2%). The developed method was validated by the analysis of a metallo-organic multi-element standard (SCP-21, typically applied as a calibration standard) and the standard reference material SRM1084a (wear metals in lubricating oil). The obtained results were in excellent agreement with the certified values (recoveries between 98% and 102%), so the proposed methodology of combining μ-flow direct injection and ICP-IDMS can be regarded as a new tool for the matrix-independent, multi-element and reliable determination of trace elements in oil and related organic liquids.     

Online coupling of ultraviolet titanium dioxide film reactor with poly(methyl methacrylate) solid phase extraction–inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for speciation of trace heavy metals in freshwater

To rapidly discriminate dissolved labile and stable organic-complexed metal ions, a fully automated approach comprising a photocatalyst-assisted digestion reactor (PADR), a non-functionalized poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) solid-phase extraction (SPE) column, and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) instrumentation was developed. To separate labile dissolved metals from other concomitant metal complexes, a non-functionalized PMMA bead was used as the SPE adsorbent because of its selective interaction with labile metal ions. The PMMA SPE–ICP-MS hyphenated system was optimized, and its analytical reliability was confirmed by using it to analyze the certified reference material—NIST 1643e (artificial saline water). Detection limits (σ = 3, n = 7) for all analyte ions (Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb), which ranged from 0.005 to 0.186 μg L^{− 1}, could be reached; therefore, this technique appeared uniquely suited to determining levels of trace elements in most natural freshwater samples. To determine the total quantity of dissolved metals, a new digestion reactor (PADR) was developed for online conversion of metal–organic complexes to their labile forms. Compared to conventional photolysis methods, the digestion time improved considerably and the digestion efficiency for organic substances was excellent (> 90%) in the PADR format, with a very short resident time of 10 min. After construction of the PADR–PMMA SPE–ICP-MS hyphenated system, the speciation potential of our developed method was evaluated by analyzing three intentionally contaminated water samples. Results indicated that our developed hyphenated system is effective for online determination of total, labile, and metal–humic complexes in freshwater samples and that is capable of providing representative metal speciation patterns for different aquatic systems.     

Applications of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in materials science

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and laser ablation ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS) have been applied as the most important inorganic mass spectrometric techniques having multielemental capability for the characterization of solid samples in materials science. ICP-MS is used for the sensitive determination of trace and ultratrace elements in digested solutions of solid samples or of process chemicals (ultrapure water, acids and organic solutions) for the semiconductor industry with detection limits down to sub-picogram per liter levels. Whereas ICP-MS on solid samples (e.g. high-purity ceramics) sometimes requires time-consuming sample preparation for its application in materials science, and the risk of contamination is a serious drawback, a fast, direct determination of trace elements in solid materials without any sample preparation by LA-ICP-MS is possible. The detection limits for the direct analysis of solid samples by LA-ICP-MS have been determined for many elements down to the nanogram per gram range. A deterioration of detection limits was observed for elements where interferences with polyatomic ions occur. The inherent interference problem can often be solved by applying a double-focusing sector field mass spectrometer at higher mass resolution or by collision-induced reactions of polyatomic ions with a collision gas using an ICP-MS fitted with collision cell. The main problem of LA-ICP-MS is quantification if no suitable standard reference materials with a similar matrix composition are available. The calibration problem in LA-ICP-MS can be solved using on-line solution-based calibration, and different procedures, such as external calibration and standard addition, have been discussed with respect to their application in materials science. The application of isotope dilution in solution-based calibration for trace metal determination in small amounts of noble metals has been developed as a new calibration strategy. This review discusses new analytical developments and possible applications of ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS for the quantitative determination of trace elements and in surface analysis for materials science.     

A novel method for the simultaneous determination of Pb (II), Cd (II) and Zn (II) in environmental water samples

A novel UV-VIS spectrophotometric method was developed in this study by using solid phase extraction procedure for the simultaneous preconcentration, separation and determination of trace levels of Pb (II), Cd (II) and Zn (II) ions in various water samples by using Amberlite N,N-bis(salicylidene)cyclohexanediamine (SCHD) resin. This study presents the results of experimental procedures carried out like the adsorption of analytes to the resin, influences of some analytical parameters that effect the recovery such as pH, sample volume, sample flow rate, eluent type and concentration, eluent volume, eluent flow rate and the effects of alkaline metals, earth alkaline metals and some other transition metals. The analytes in the samples with the adjusted pH range of 4–7 were adsorbed on XAD-4-SCHD resin and eluted by using 1.0 mol L^?1 nitric acid. The amounts of ions were determined by using UV-VIS spectrometer. The limits of detection were 0.03, 0.07 and 0.05 µg mL^?1 for Pb (II), Cd (II) and Zn (II), respectively. The accuracy of the method was assured by the analysis of the certified standard water sample NW-TMDA-70.2 and the observed recoveries were above 93%. Different environmental water samples that contain trace amounts of Pb (II), Cd (II) and Zn (II) were analysed by using the method developed in this study. Same samples were also analysed by ICP-MS for comparison and almost the similar results were observed. The method developed in this study was successfully applied to the various environmental water samples to determine the trace levels of Pb (II), Cd (II) and Zn (II) ions.     

Open-channel chip-based solid-phase extraction combined with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry for online determination of trace elements in volume-limited saline samples

In this study, we used an automated online chip-based solid-phase extraction (SPE)-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) system for analyzing trace elements in small-volume saline samples (～15 μL). The proposed method involved the adsorption of trace metal ions in the interior of a functionalized poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) channel in order to separate these ions from saline matrices. The adsorption of transition metal ions was presumably dominated by the surface complexation between the carboxylate moieties in the interior of the PMMA channel and the metal ions, which facilitated the formation of metal-carboxylate complexes. The components of the proposed online analytical system used for the simultaneous detection of multiple trace metals in saline samples involved microdialysis (MD) sampling, an established chip-based SPE procedure, and ICP-MS. The SPE-ICP-MS hyphenated system was optimized, and then, the analytical reliability of this system was further confirmed by using it to analyze the certified reference materials-SRM 2670 (human urine) and SRM 1643e (artificial saline water). The satisfactory analytical results indicated that the proposed on-chip SPE device could be readily used as an interface for coupling the MD probe with the ICP-MS system. The dramatically reduced consumption of chemicals and "hands-on" manipulations enabled the realization of a simplified and relatively clean procedure with extremely low detection limits in the range of 5.86-76.91 ng L(-1) for detecting Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, and Pb in 15-μL samples by ICP-MS. The effectiveness of an online MD-chip-based SPE-ICP-MS technique for continuous monitoring of trace elements in a simulated biological system was also demonstrated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to report the direct exploitation of a PMMA chip as an SPE adsorbent for online sample pretreatment and trace metal preconcentration prior to ICP-MS measurement.     

Date pits waste as a solid phase extraction sorbent for the analysis of lead in wastewater and for use in manufacturing brick: An eco-friendly waste management approach

Lead (Pb(II)), an extremely hazardous heavy metal that has been shown to have detrimental effects on both the environment and humans, mostly gets into the ecosystem through industrial activities. In this work, a new solid-phase extraction (SPE) based on treated date pits bio-sorbent and iCAP Q inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (iCAP Q ICP/MS) method has been optimized for the trace determination of Pb(II) in various industrial wastewater effluents. A cost-effective biomass material was prepared from date pits (DP), and chemically modified with H₂O₂ and successively used as SPE bio-sorbent for Pb(II) extraction. Extracting solutions for instance H₂SO₄, HNO₃ and HCl at various concentrations (1–5 mM) were optimized, and best extraction of Pb(II) was obtained by HCl (1 mM). The optimized SPE and iCAP Q ICP/MS method has offered excellent validation conditions in terms of coefficient of determination (CoD, R² > 0.999), detection limit (DL, 0.011 µg/L), quantification limit (QL, 0.034 µg/L), and run-to-run and day-to-day precision (RSD < 6 %). The optimized procedure was practically applied in the determination of Pb(II) in industrial wastewater comprising iron and steel, textile, printing and battery industries. Among the analyzed samples, the battery industry produced higher amounts of Pb(II) (18.55 µg/L) followed by iron and steel (14.65 µg/L), petroleum (12.38 µg/L) printing (5.78 µg/L) and textile (3.76 µg/L) industries. The recovery values were achieved between 95 % and 99 %. The obtained results have established the appropriateness of the offered technique as a new useful method for the routine examination of Pb(II) in industrial wastes. In addition, the current method could be expansively used in the proficient removal and identification of other heavy metals contaminants from similar matrices. Further, the metal ions saturated bio-sorbents were used in the preparations of bricks and it was found to be a successful approach for heavy metals and agricultural waste management.     

Trends in sorption preconcentration combined with noble metal determination.

Nowadays much attention is being paid to the determination of trace amounts of noble metals in geological, industrial, biological and environmental samples. The most promising techniques, such as inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) are characterized by high sensitivity. However, the accurate determination of trace noble metals has been limited by numerous interferences generated from the presence of matrix elements. To decrease, or eliminate, these interferences, the sorption preconcentration of noble metals is often used prior to their instrumental detection. A great number of hyphenated methods of noble metal determination using sorption preconcentration have been developed. This review describes the basic types of available sorbents, preconcentration procedures and preparations of the sorbent to the subsequent determination of noble metals. The specific features of instrumental techniques and examples of ETAAS, FAAS, ICP-AES, ICP-MS determinations after the sorption preconcentration of noble metals are considered. The references cited here were selected mostly from the period 1996 - 2006.     

Influence of sample pre-treatment on the determination of trace silver and cadmium in geological and environmental samples by quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

The suitability of three different digestion procedures has been evaluated with regard to the quantitative determination of trace amounts of silver and cadmium in geological and environmental samples. Procedure A: extraction with aqua regia in an open vessel system; Procedure B: extraction with aqua regia in a closed pressurized vessel system; Procedure C: digestion with HF + HNO₃ in a closed pressurized vessel system. It was found that procedure A represented an effective way of extracting analytes from different types of geological samples while the effect of extracting interfering metals is low. Because it is interference-free, poses a low risk of contamination and is time-saving, sample treatment procedure A was preferred. For this digestion procedure, a series of Chinese geological reference materials was determined by ICP-MS, the results of which were found to be in reasonable agreement with the certified values.     

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric determination of heavy metals in sea-water samples after pre-treatment with a chelating resin disk by an on-line flow injection method

A new on-line flow injection (FI) pre-treatment system using a disk-type chelating resin (5 mm diameter, 0.5 mm thickness) was developed for the simultaneous multi-element determination of trace metals in sea-water samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A chelating resin possessing an iminodiacetate (IDA) functional group was used for the collection of trace elements and the elimination of alkali and alkaline earth metals in highly concentrated salt solution. A 1 ml volume of a sea-water sample (pH 5.5) was applied to the chelating resin disk. Considering the removal efficiency for Ca, 50 mM ammonium acetate buffer solution (pH 5.5) was chosen as a sample carrier. The enriched trace metals were eluted with 0.1 M nitric acid and the eluate flowed into the ICP-MS system. The processing time for one sample was < 6 min (350 s). One of the important observations is the possibility of working with a low recovery, even lower than 50%. For example, several elements such as Mn, Cr, As, Mo, Ba and U, the recovery of which was < 50% in a batch-wise method, showed good linearity and reproducibility. The proposed method was evaluated by analyzing two kinds of sea-water certified reference materials, CASS-4 and NASS-5. Analytical data for eight heavy metals, V, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Mo, Cd and U, obtained from the present study agreed well with the certified values.     

Development of an integrated flow injection system for the electro-oxidative leaching of uranium from geological samples and its spectrophotometric determination with Arsenazo III

This work proposes a new procedure for on-line electro-oxidative leaching and spectrophotometric determination of uranium in ore samples. By associating a conventional flow injection system, used for uranium determination with Arsenazo III, with an on-line system for electro-oxidative leaching, a fully integrated system was assembled. The systems were integrated after achieving optimum conditions for uranium determination and leaching. According to the results obtained in the present work, a current density of 280 mA cm⁻² generated enough hypochlorite ions in the electrolyte solution (3.6 mol L⁻¹ HCl + 2% (w/v) NaCl) to promote quantitative oxidation of U(IV) to U(VI) thus improving the extraction efficiency. The slurry density did not significantly affect the performance of the system and the increasing temperature resulted in a decrease in extraction efficiency. This methodology was applied in the determination of U₃O₈ in four ore samples and the results obtained agreed with those obtained by ICP-MS after conventional wet acid digestion of the samples.     

Determination of trace amounts of cadmium,copper and nickel in environmental water and food samples using GO/MgO nanocomposite as a new sorbent

A solid phase extraction method based on graphene oxide (GO) modified with magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles was developed for the preconcentration and determination of trace amounts of cadmium, copper and nickel ions. The adsorbed analytes were eluted by 4.0 mL of 0.1 M (EDTA) and injected to flame atomic absorption spectrometer. The factors influencing the complex formation and extraction of these heavy metals were optimized. Studies on potential interference by various anions and cations showed the method to be highly selective. The preconcentration factor was about 11 with relative standard deviation of <4.0 for 8 replication determination. The detection limits for the Cd, Cu, Ni were found to be 0.5, 3.4 and 25 µg L^?1, respectively. The method was successfully applied for the determination of cadmium, copper and nickel in tap water, well water, sea water, rice and macaroni samples with spike recoveries ranging 93–105 %.     

Validation of bismuth film electrode for determination of cobalt and cadmium in soil extracts using ICP-MS

A study is presented on the use of the bismuth film electrode (BiFE) operated in the anodic stripping and the cathodic adsorptive stripping voltammetry (ASV, CAdSV) modes, for the determination of two trace heavy metals (Cd and Co, respectively), in soil extract samples. Two types of BiFE were examined in this study: the in situ prepared BiFE, which was employed in ASV determination of Cd, and the ex situ prepared BiFE, which was used in CAdSV of Co with dimethylglyoxime (DMG) as complexing agent. A series of unpretreated soil extracts with varying Cd and Co concentrations were analyzed, and the results obtained compared to those determined using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results revealed the suitability of stripping analysis at the BiFE for determination of μg l⁻¹ levels of heavy metals in soil extracts. The promising results obtained here, coupled with the non-toxic nature of bismuth (in comparison to commonly used mercury electrodes employed in stripping analysis), offer great promise in centralized and decentralized analysis of trace heavy metals in complex environmental matrices.     

Inorganic trace analysis by mass spectrometry

Mass spectrometric methods for the trace analysis of inorganic materials with their ability to provide a very sensitive multielemental analysis have been established for the determination of trace and ultratrace elements in high-purity materials (metals, semiconductors and insulators), in different technical samples (e.g. alloys, pure chemicals, ceramics, thin films, ion-implanted semiconductors), in environmental samples (waters, soils, biological and medical materials) and geological samples. Whereas such techniques as spark source mass spectrometry (SSMS), laser ionization mass spectrometry (LIMS), laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), glow discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) have multielemental capability, other methods such as thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) have been used for sensitive mono- or oligoelemental ultratrace analysis (and precise determination of isotopic ratios) in solid samples. The limits of detection for chemical elements using these mass spectrometric techniques are in the low ng g⁻¹ concentration range. The quantification of the analytical results of mass spectrometric methods is sometimes difficult due to a lack of matrix-fitted multielement standard reference materials (SRMs) for many solid samples. Therefore, owing to the simple quantification procedure of the aqueous solution, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is being increasingly used for the characterization of solid samples after sample dissolution. ICP-MS is often combined with special sample introduction equipment (e.g. flow injection, hydride generation, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or electrothermal vaporization) or an off-line matrix separation and enrichment of trace impurities (especially for characterization of high-purity materials and environmental samples) is used in order to improve the detection limits of trace elements. Furthermore, the determination of chemical elements in the trace and ultratrace concentration range is often difficult and can be disturbed through mass interferences of analyte ions by molecular ions at the same nominal mass. By applying double-focusing sector field mass spectrometry at the required mass resolution—by the mass spectrometric separation of molecular ions from the analyte ions—it is often possible to overcome these interference problems. Commercial instrumental equipment, the capability (detection limits, accuracy, precision) and the analytical application fields of mass spectrometric methods for the determination of trace and ultratrace elements and for surface analysis are discussed.     

电感耦合等离子体质谱(ICP-MS)法检测市售鱿鱼中5种重金属

基于硝酸消解体系,建立了微波消解-电感耦合离子体质谱(ICP-MS)法同时测定市售鱿鱼中铅、砷、镉、汞、铬5种重金属元素的检测方法。样品加入HNO₃进行微波消解,优化ICP-MS 相关检测参数后,进行外标法定量。结果表明,5种重金属在各自浓度范围内线性关系均＞0.999,平均回收率为96%-101%,精密度RSD均小于5%。用该法检测广州市农贸市场随机购买的6个批次冰鲜鱿鱼,结果有1个批次砷含量超标,1个批次镉含量超标。该法前处理简单,检测准确、快速,适用于鱿鱼等水产品中铅、砷、镉、汞、铬等重金属的检测。     

On-line collection/concentration and determination of transition and rare-earth metals in water samples using Multi-Auto-Pret system coupled with inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry

On-line preconcentration and determination of transition and rare-earth metals in water samples was performed using a Multi-Auto-Pret system coupled with inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The Multi-Auto-Pret AES system proposed here consists of three Auto-Pret systems with mini-columns that can be used for the preconcentration of trace metals sequentially or simultaneously, and can reduce analysis time to one-third and running cost of argon gas and labor. A newly synthesized chelating resin, ethylenediamine-N,N,N′-triacetate-type chitosan (EDTriA-type chitosan), was employed in the Multi-Auto-Pret system for the collection of trace metals prior to their measurement by ICP-AES. The proposed resin showed very good adsorption ability for transition and rare-earth metal ions without any interference from alkali and alkaline-earth metal ions in an acidic media. For the best result, pH 5 was adopted for the collection of metal ions. Only 5 mL of samples could be used for the determination of transition metals, while 20 mL of samples was necessary for the determination of rare-earth metals. Metal ions adsorbed on the resin were eluted using 1.5 M nitric acid, and were measured by ICP-AES. The proposed method was evaluated by the analysis of SLRS-4 river water reference materials for trace metals. Good agreement with certified and reference values was obtained for most of the metals examined; it indicates that the proposed method using the newly synthesized resin could be favorably used for the determination of transition and rare-earth metals in water samples by ICP-AES.     

能量色散-X射线荧光光谱测定中草药痕量镉、铅、铜

为寻求一种能够直接对中草药中重金属进行快速检测的方法,采用压片法对样品进行前处理,建立了能量色散-X射线荧光光谱法快速检测中草药中痕量重金属镉、铅、铜元素的方法。在20 min即可完成检测,镉、铅、铜检出限分别为0.072、0.207、0.340 mg/kg,测试结果表明与原子吸收和ICP-MS相比,本方法数据稳定性和准确度良好,具有快速、准确、简单的优点,能够满足药典中对重金属元素的限量要求,适用于现场快速检测与质量控制检测。     

微波消解-ICP-MS法测定药用明胶空心胶囊中微量重金属元素

采用微波消解技术,建立了一种电感耦合等离子体质谱法测定明胶空心胶囊中Cr,Co,Ni,Cu,Zn,As,Cd,Hg和Pb 9种微量重金属元素的方法。确定了微波消解仪和等离子体质谱仪的最佳操作参数,研究共存离子的干扰和消除方法,选择了各元素的测定同位素,以Ge,Rh和Tl为内标补偿基体效应,建立了样品测定方法。应用拟定的方法测定了不同生产厂家、不同批次的空心胶囊中微量重金属的含量。方法对试样中各元素测定的相对标准偏差为1.5%~14.1%,加标回收率在90.0%~102.0%。结果表明,方法简便、快速、灵敏,满足于空心胶囊中9种重金属元素的测定要求。     

Retention of Some Metal Ions and Their Separation on Silica Gel Modified with Acid Red 88

 Acid Red 88 is strongly extracted by chloroform solutions of Aliquat 336 by an ion exchange mechanism and for its reextraction from the ion pair formed, relatively high concentrations of mineral acids are required. By impregnation of silica with the ion pairs between the cation of Aliquat 336 and the anion of the dye a chelating sorbent for metal ions can be obtained. The sorbent prepared may be successfully used for separation of mixtures of various metal ions by the column extraction chromatography technique, additional purification of sodium and potassium salts from ions of heavy metals and for concentration of trace amounts of ions of various metals from aqueous solutions followed by their quantitative determination. The sorbent can be used repeatedly in the process of sorption and desorption of metal ions (especially those forming less stable complexes with the reagent) after regeneration with solutions of perchloric acid. Received January 28, 1998. Revision March 1, 1999.