Separation of lead from high matrix electroless nickel plating waste solution using an ion-selective immobilized macrocycle system

Separation of trace levels of lead from concentrated-matrix electroless nickel plating (ENP) waste solutions is required to meet the increasingly stringent environmental regulations. A solid phase extraction (SPE) system using a molecular recognition technology (MRT) gel was used for the selective separation of trace levels of lead (Pb) from the waste discharge of ENP operations, followed by subsequent analysis with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Two SPE-MRTs, AnaLig® Pb-01 and AnaLig® Pb-02, packed in 3 mL polypropylene cartridges were used to treat the synthetic metal-waste solutions that were used to simulate the typical metal mixture in ENP bath waste. The fortified solutions contained 100-1000 μg L^− 1 of Pb in an HNO₃ matrix with pre-added Ni, Cu and other interfering elements (1000 mg L^− 1). After the sample treatment, the SPE-MRT cartridges were washed with water and 0.1 M nitric acid, followed by elution with 0.03 M EDTA. The matrix elements (e.g., Ni, Cu) were completely removed at the washing step, while the ‘captured’ Pb was quantitatively eluted, as determined by ICP-OES measurements. The detection limit of the proposed method was 2.6 μg L^− 1. ‘Real’ samples from commercial ENP operations were used to assess the validity of this method, and almost quantitative Pb recovery was observed. The excellent Pb selectivity of the SPE-MRT system indicates the potential of the proposed technique for trace-level Pb separation from the Pb-containing high matrix aqueous waste discharge.     

Development of an inexpensive and sensitive method for the determination of low quantity of arsenic species in water samples by CPE-FAAS

The simple and rapid preconcentration technique using cloud point extraction (CPE) was applied for the determination of As(V) and total inorganic arsenic (As(V) plus As(III)) in water samples by means of FAAS. As(V) has formed an ion-pairing complex with Pyronine B in the presence of cetyl pyridinium chloride (CPC) at pH 8.0 and extracted into the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-114, after centrifugation the surfactant-rich phase was separated and diluted with 1.0 mol L⁻¹ HNO₃ in methanol. The proposed method is very versatile and economic because it exclusively used conventional FAAS. After optimization of the CPE conditions, a preconcentration factor of 120, the detection and quantification limits of 1.67 and 5.06 μg L⁻¹ with a correlation coefficient of 0.9978 were obtained from the calibration curve constructed in the range of 5.0-2200 μg L⁻¹. The relative standard deviation, RSD as a measure of precision was less than 4.1% and the recoveries were in the range of 98.2-102.4%, 97.4-101.2% and 97.8-101.1% for As(V), As(III) and total As, respectively. The method was validated by the analysis of standard reference materials, TMDA-53.3 and NIST 1643e and applied to the determination of As(III) and As(V) in some real samples including natural drinking water and tap water samples with satisfactory results. The results obtained (34.70 ± 1.08 μg L⁻¹ and 60.25 ± 1.07 μg L⁻¹) were in good agreement with the certified values (34.20 ± 1.38 μg L⁻¹ and 60.45 ± 1.78 μg L⁻¹).     

Simple and label-free electrochemical assay for signal-on DNA hybridization directly at undecorated graphene oxide

Exploring graphene oxide (GO), DNA hybridization detection usually relies on either GO decoration or DNA sequences labeling. The former endows GO with desired chemical, optical, and biological properties. The latter adopts labeled molecules to indicate hybridization. In the present work, we propose a simple, label-free DNA assay using undecorated GO directly as the sensing platform. GO is anchored on diazonium functionalized electrode through electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding or epoxy ring-opening. The π–π stacking interaction between hexagonal cells of GO and DNA base rings facilitates DNA immobilization. The adsorbed DNA sequence is specially designed with two parts, including immobilization sequence and probe sequence. In the absence of target, the two sequences lie nearly flat on GO platform. In the presence of target, probe hybridizes with it to form double helix DNA, which ‘stands’ on GO. While the immobilization sequence part remains ‘lying’ on GO surface. Hence, DNA hybridization induces GO interfacial property changes, including negative charge and conformational transition from ‘lying’ ssDNA to ‘standing’ dsDNA. These changes are monitored by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and adopted as the analytical signal. This strategy eliminates the requirement for GO decoration or DNA labeling, representing a comparatively simple and effective way. Finally, the principle is applied to the detection of conserved sequence of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 pol gene fragment. The dynamic detection range is from 1.0 × 10⁻¹² to 1.0 × 10⁻⁶ M with detection limit of 1.1 × 10⁻¹³ M with 3σ. And the sequences with double- or four-base mismatched are readily distinguishable. In addition, this strategy may hold great promise for potential applications from DNA biosensing to nanostructure framework construction based on the versatile DNA self-assembly.     

Synchronous fluorescence determination of DNA based on the interaction between methylene blue and DNA

The fluorescence intensity of methylene blue (MB) quenched by DNA in the pH range of 6.5-8.0 was studied with synchronous fluorescence technology. A novel method for detecting single-stranded and double-stranded DNA was developed. The decreased fluorescence intensity at 664 nm is in proportion to the concentration of DNA in the range of 0.28-11.0 μmol L⁻¹ for ctDNA, 0.14-8.25 μmol L⁻¹ for thermally denatured ctDNA and 0.28-8.25 μmol L⁻¹ for hsDNA. The detection limits (S/N = 3) are 0.11, 0.04 and 0.04 μmol L⁻¹, respectively. The method is rapid, selective, and the reagents are lower toxic. It has been used for the determination of DNA in synthetic samples with good satisfaction. In addition, the interaction modes between MB and ctDNA and the mechanism of the fluorescence quenching were also discussed in detail. The experimental results from absorption spectra and fluorescence polarization indicate that the possible interaction modes between MB and DNA are the electrostatic binding and the intercalation binding.     

A 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine-imprinted polymer gel surface plasmon resonance sensor based on template-responsive shrinkage

Molecularly imprinted polymer gel film on the gold substrate of a chip was prepared with minute amount of cross-linker for the fabrication of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor sensitive to 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine. The molecularly imprinted gel film was anchored on a gold chip by a surface-bound photo-radical initiator. The sensing of 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine is based on responsive shrinkage of the imprinted polymer gel film that is triggered by target binding. This change can improve the responsiveness of the imprinted SPR sensor to 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine. The molecularly imprinted polymer gel film was characterized with contact angle measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammogram, swelling measurements and atomic force microscopy. The changes of SPR spectroscopy wavenumber shifts revealed that the imprinted gel sensing film can ‘memorize’ the binding of 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine compared to non-imprinted one. The imprinted gel-SPR sensor showed a linear response in the range of 9.0 × 10⁻¹² to 5.0 × 10⁻¹⁰ mol L⁻¹ (R² = 0.9998) for the detection of 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine, and it also exhibited high selectivity to 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine compared to its structurally related analogues. We calculated the detection limits to be 0.471 ng L⁻¹ for tap water and 0.772 ng kg⁻¹ for soil based on a signal to noise ratio of 3. The method showed good recoveries and precision for the samples spiked with 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine. This suggest that the imprinted gel-SPR sensing method can be used as a promising alternative for the detection of 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine.     

Simple water analysis of golf link pesticides by means of batch-wise adsorption and supercritical fluid extraction

Here, a simple new method is proposed to evaluate water for the presence of pesticides. Specifically, pesticides for golf link maintenance were used as the targets for this investigation. Water samples containing the pesticides were mixed with particulate adsorbent, after which the pesticides were extracted from the adsorbents using supercritical fluid carbon dioxide and then analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The recoveries of pesticides were examined with several types of adsorbents and found to be related to their octanol/water partition coefficients (K_ow) for most of the adsorbents. Good recoveries were obtained when the water samples were mixed with octadecylsilane (ODS) and stylene-divinylbenzene copolymer (XAD) resins for 15 and 30 min, respectively. In the supercritical fluid extraction, extraction pressure affected the efficiency of extraction from XAD while a little effect on extraction from ODS, probably due to the internal structure of the adsorbents. The limit of detection ranged from 0.002 to 2.3 μg L⁻¹ and the method is suitable for the measurement of golf link pesticides in μg L⁻¹ order to 100 μg L⁻¹. The procedure of the proposed method was simpler than the conventional solid-phase extraction method. Finally, the method presented here was used to identify pesticides present in actual wastewater from golf links.     

Evaluation of DGT techniques for measuring inorganic uranium species in natural waters: Interferences,deployment time and speciation

Three adsorbents (Chelex-100, manganese dioxide [MnO₂] and Metsorb), used as binding layers with the diffusive gradient in thin film (DGT) technique, were evaluated for the measurement of inorganic uranium species in synthetic and natural waters. Uranium (U) was found to be quantitatively accumulated in solution (10–100 μg L⁻¹) by all three adsorbents (uptake efficiencies of 80–99%) with elution efficiencies of 80% (Chelex-100), 84% (MnO₂) and 83% (Metsorb). Consistent uptake occurred over pH (5–9), with only MnO₂ affected by pH < 5, and ionic strength (0.001–1 mol L⁻¹ NaNO₃) ranges typical of natural waters, including seawater. DGT validation experiments (5 days) gave linear mass uptake over time (R² ≥ 0.97) for all three adsorbents in low ionic strength solution (0.01 M NaNO₃). Validation experiments in artificial sea water gave linear mass uptake for Metsorb (R² ≥ 0.9954) up to 12 h and MnO₂ (R² ≥ 0.9259) up to 24 h. Chelex-100 demonstrated no linear mass uptake in artificial sea water after 8 h. Possible interferences were investigated with SO₄²⁻ (0.02–200 mg L⁻¹) having little affect on any of the three DGT binding layers. PO₄³⁻ additions (5 μg L⁻¹–5 mg L⁻¹) interfered by forming anionic uranyl phosphate complexes that Chelex-100 was unable to accumulate, or by directly competing with the uranyl species for binding sites, as with MnO₂ and the Metsorb. HCO₃⁻ (0.1–500 mg L⁻¹) additions formed anionic species which interfered with the performance of the Chelex-100 and the MnO₂, and the Ca²⁺ (0.1–500 mg L⁻¹) had the affect of forming labile calcium uranyl species which aided uptake of U by all three resins. DGT field deployments in sea water (Southampton Water, UK) gave a linear mass uptake of U over time with Metsorb and MnO₂ (4 days). Field deployments in fresh water (River Lambourn, UK) gave linear uptake for up to 7 and 4 days for Metsorb and MnO₂ respectively. Field deployment of the Metsorb-DGT samplers with various diffusive layer thicknesses (0.015–0.175 cm) allowed accurate measurements of the diffusive boundary layer (DBL) and allowed DBL corrected concentrations to be determined. This DBL-corrected U concentration was half that determined when the effect of the DBL was not considered. The ability of the DGT devices to measure U isotopic ratios with no isotopic fractionation was shown by all three resins, thereby proving the usefulness of the technique for environmental monitoring purposes.     

Electrochemical studies of the interaction of Basic Brown G with DNA and determination of DNA

A new method of electrochemical probe has been proposed for the determination of Herring Sperm DNA (DNA) based on its interaction with Basic Brown G (BBG). The electrochemical behavior of interaction of BBG with DNA was investigated on Hg electrode. In 0.1 mol L⁻¹ NH₃-NH₄Cl buffer solution (pH 8.0), BBG can be reduced on Hg electrode with a well-defined voltammetric peak at −0.67 V (versus SCE). In the presence of DNA, the reduction peak current of BBG decreases and the peak potential shifts to a more positive potential without the appearance of new peak. The study shows that a new BBG-DNA complex is formed by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and spectrophotometry. The decrease of the second order derivative of reductive peak current (Δi^″p) of BBG is proportional to the concentration of DNA in the range of 0.10-36 μg mL⁻¹. Limit of detection of DNA is 0.04 μg mL⁻¹. DNA of Hepatitis B Virus in serum samples was determined satisfactorily. Additionally, the binding mechanism was preliminarily discussed. The mode of interaction between BBG and DNA was found to be intercalation binding.     

Fluoride removal from water by chitosan derivatives and composites: A review

Fluoride is an essential element, indispensable for maintenance of dental health. Nevertheless, fluoride concentrations in drinking water above 1.5 mg L⁻¹ may be detrimental to human health. Many methods have been developed for removing excessive fluoride from drinking water, adsorption seems to be an effective, environmentally friendly and economical one. Since the sorption capacity of fluoride below 2 mg L⁻¹ on most conventional adsorbents is not satisfactory, much effort has been devoted to develop new and cost-effective fluoride adsorbents. This review reports the recent developments in the F⁻ removal in water treatment, using chitosan derivatives and composites in order to provide useful information about the different technologies. When possibly the adsorption capacity of chitosan derivatives and composites under different experimental conditions is reported to help to compare the efficacy of the fluoride removal process. A comparison with the adsorption capacity of other low cost adsorbents is also tabled.     

Dual-force aggregation of magnetic particles enhances label-free quantification of DNA at the sub-single cell level

We recently reported the ‘pinwheel effect’ as the foundation for a DNA assay based on a DNA concentration-dependent aggregation of silica-coated magnetic beads in a rotating magnetic field (RMF). Using a rotating magnet that generated a 5 cm magnetic field that impinged on a circular array of 5 mm microwells, aggregation was found to only be effective in a single well at the center of the field. As a result, when multiple samples needed to be analyzed, the single-plex (single well) analysis was tedious, time-consuming and labor-intensive, as each well needed to be exposed to the center of the RMF in a serial manner for consistent well-to-well aggregation. For more effective multiplexing (simultaneous aggregation in 12 wells), we used a circular array of microwells and incorporated ‘agitation’ as a second force that worked in concert with the RMF to provide effective multiplexed aggregation-based DNA quantitation. The dual-force aggregation (DFA) approach allows for effective simultaneous aggregation in multiple wells (12 demonstrated) of the multi-well microdevice, allowing for 12 samples to be interrogated for DNA content in 140 s, providing a ∼35-fold improvement in time compared to single-plex approach (80 min) and ∼4-fold improvement over conventional fluorospectrometric methods. Furthermore, the increased interaction between DNA and beads provided by DFA improved the limit of detection   to 250 fg μL⁻¹. The correlation between the DFA results and those from a fluorospectrometer, demonstrate DFA as an inexpensive and rapid alternative to more conventional methods (fluorescent and spectrophotometric).     

A new strategy for synthesis of an in-tube molecularly imprinted polymer-solid phase microextraction device: Selective off-line extraction of 4-nitrophenol as an example of priority pollutants from environmental water samples

In this study a novel preparation protocol has been developed for the construction of an in-tube molecularly imprinted polymer-solid phase microextraction (MIP-SPME) device. Open tubular capillaries have been molded from a polymer sorbent imprinted for 4-nitrophenol as target molecule. Different parameters like inner diameter and volume of the polymer, porogen volume, swelling and shrinking effects of the polymer tubes, polymerization time, pH of the sample, extraction time, ‘salting out’ effect and serial connection of the tubes were evaluated and optimized. Particularly, an optimized polymer preparation process and extraction condition enhanced the final extraction recovery of 4-nitrophenol substantially. Using this new MIP-SPME technique with high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) analysis of the extracts, the linear range and the limits of detection and quantification are 0.001–10 mg L⁻¹, 0.33 μg L⁻¹ and 1.1 μg L⁻¹ respectively. At optimized conditions, a mixture of nitrophenols, alkylated and chlorinated phenols spiked into municipal waste water were analyzed to evaluate the matrix effects and cross selectivity of the new MIP capillary tubes.     

Non-chromatographic determination of ultratraces of V(V) and V(IV) based on a double column solid phase extraction flow injection system coupled to electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

In this work, a non-chromatographic procedure for the on-line determination of ultratraces of V(V) and V(IV) is presented. The method involves a solid phase extraction-flow injection system coupled to electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (SPE-FI-ETAAS). The system holds two microcolumns (MC) set in parallel and filled with lab-made mesoporous silica functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxy silane (APS) and mesoporous silica MCM-41, respectively. The pre-concentration of V(V) is performed by sorption onto the first MC (C1) filled with APS at pH 3, whilst that of V(IV) is performed by sorption onto the second column (C2) filled with mesoporous silica MCM-41 at pH 5. Aqueous samples containing both analytes are loaded and, after pre-concentration (pre-concentration factor PCF = 10, sorption flow rate = 1 mL min⁻¹, sorption time = 10 min), they are eluted in separate vessels with hydroxylammonium chloride (HC) 0.1 mol L⁻¹ in HCl 0.5 mol L⁻¹ (elution volume = 1 mL, elution flow rate = 0.5 mL min⁻¹). Afterwards, both analytes are determined through ETAAS with graphite furnace. Under optimized conditions, the main analytical figures of merit for V(V) and V(IV) are, respectively: detection limits (3 s): 0.5 and 0.6 μg L⁻¹, linear range: 2-100 μg L⁻¹ (both analytes), sensitivity: 0.015 and 0.013 μg⁻¹ L and sample throughput: 6 h⁻¹ (both analytes). Recoveries of both species were assayed in different water samples. Validation was performed through certified reference materials for ultratraces of total vanadium in river water.     

ZnO-coated glass fibers for the analysis of trihalomethanes by headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography

Li₂O-ZrO₂-BaO-SiO₂ glass fibers were produced and their surfaces were coated with zinc oxide. The fibers’ surface morphology was examined by scanning electron microscopy and the zinc oxide layer was characterized by mapping the K_α and L_α lines of zinc by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results indicated that a homogeneous and porous layer of ZnO was formed on the fibers’ surface. This layer was subjected to a simultaneous determination of trihalomethanes using headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography. The study was conducted after evaluating the ideal time of incubation (15 min), extraction (15 min) and desorption (10 min), as well as the effect of the addition of salt (15%, m/v) on the analytical response. A good linear dynamic range was observed individually for trihalomethanes aqueous solutions containing 20 μg L⁻¹ and 500 μg L⁻¹ of trichloromethane, 15 μg L⁻¹ and 250 μg L⁻¹ of dichlorobromomethane and dibromochloromethane and 10 μg L⁻¹ and 100 μg L⁻¹ of tribromomethane, with all the compounds showing correlation coefficients higher than 0.9900.     

Flow injection chemiluminescence sensor based on core–shell magnetic molecularly imprinted nanoparticles for determination of sulfadiazine

A novel flow injection chemiluminescence (FI-CL) sensor for determination of sulfadiazine (SDZ) using core–shell magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) as recognition element is developed. Briefly, a hydrophilic MMIPs layer was produced at the surface of Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) via combination of molecular imprinting and reversible stimuli responsive hydrogel. And it provided the MMIPs with excellent adsorption capacity and rapid adsorption rate due to the imprinted sites mostly situated on the surface of MMIPs. Then the prepared SDZ-MMIPs were packed into flow cell to establish a novel FI-CL sensor. The sensor provided a wide linear range for SDZ of 4.0 × 10⁻⁷ to 1.0 × 10⁻⁴ mol L⁻¹ with a detection limit of 1.54 × 10⁻⁷ mol L⁻¹. And the relative standard deviation (RSD) for the determination of 1.0 × 10⁻⁶ mol L⁻¹ SDZ was 2.56% (n = 11). The proposed method was applied to determine SDZ in urine samples and satisfactory results were obtained.     

Surface-imprinted core–shell Au nanoparticles for selective detection of bisphenol A based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Surface-imprinted core–shell Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) were explored for the highly selective detection of bisphenol A (BPA) by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). A triethoxysilane-template complex (BPA-Si) was synthesized and then utilized to fabricate a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) layer on the AuNPs via a sol–gel process. The imprinted BPA molecules were removed by a simple thermal treatment to generated the imprint-removed material, MIP-ir-AuNPs, with the desired recognition sites that could selectively rebind the BPA molecules. The morphological and polymeric characteristics of MIP-ir-AuNPs were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that the MIP-ir-AuNPs were fabricated with a 2 nm MIP shell layer within which abundant amine groups were generated. The rebinding kinetics study showed that the MIP-ir-AuNPs could reach the equilibrium adsorption for BPA within 10 min owning to the advantage of ultrathin core–shell nanostructure. Moreover, a linear relationship between SERS intensity and the concentration of BPA on the MIP-ir-AuNPs was observed in the range of 0.5–22.8 mg L⁻¹, with a detection limit of 0.12 mg L⁻¹ (blank ± 3 × s.d.). When applied to SERS detection, the developed surface-imprinted core–shell MIP-ir-AuNPs could recognize BPA and prevent interference from the structural analogues such as hexafluorobisphenol A (BPAF) and diethylstilbestrol (DES). These results revealed that the proposed method displayed significant potential utility in rapid and selective detection of BPA in real samples.     

Electrochemical deoxyribonucleic acid biosensor based on carboxyl functionalized graphene oxide and poly-l-lysine modified electrode for the detection of tlh gene sequence related to vibrio parahaemolyticus

A carboxyl functionalized graphene oxide (GO-COOH) and electropolymerized ploy-l-lysine (PLLy) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was fabricated and used for the construction of an electrochemical deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) biosensor. The NH₂ modified probe ssDNA sequences were immobilized on the surface of GO-COOH/PLLy/GCE by covalent linking with the formation of amide bonds, which was stable and furthur hybridized with the target ssDNA sequence. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was used to monitor the hybridization events with methylene blue as electrochemical indicator, which gave a sensitive reduction peak at −0.287 V (vs. SCE). Under the optimal conditions the reduction peak current was proportional to the concentration of tlh gene sequence in the range from 1.0 × 10⁻¹² to 1.0 × 10⁻⁶ mol L⁻¹ with a detection limit as 1.69 × 10⁻¹³ mol L⁻¹ (3σ). The polymerase chain reaction products of tlh gene from oyster samples were detected with satisfactory results, indicating the potential application of this electrochemical DNA sensor.     

Facile preparation of surface-exchangeable core@shell iron oxide@gold nanoparticles for magnetic solid-phase extraction: Use of gold shell as the intermediate platform for versatile adsorbents with varying self-assembled monolayers

The core@shell Fe₃O₄@Au nanoparticles (NPs) functionalized with exchangeable self-assembled monolayers have been developed for mode switching magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) using high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. The adsorbents were synthesized by chemical coprecipitation to prepare magnetic cores followed by sonolysis to produce gold shells. Functionalization of Fe₃O₄@Au NPs surface was realized through self-assembly of commercially available low molecular weight thiol-containing ligands using gold shells as intermediate platform and the dynamic nature of Au–S chemistry allowed substituent of one thiol-containing ligand with another simply by thiol exchange process. The resultant adsorbents were characterized by transmission electronic microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, contact angle measurement, and vibrating sample magnetometry. To evaluate the versatile performance of the developed MSPE adsorbents, they were applied for normal-phase SPE followed by reversed-phase SPE. A few kinds of diphenols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were employed as model analytes, respectively. The predominant parameters affecting extraction efficiency were investigated and optimized. Under the optimum experimental conditions, wide dynamic linear range (6.25–1600 μg L⁻¹ for diphenols and 1.56–100 μg L⁻¹ for PAHs) with good linearity (r² ≥ 0.989) and low detection limits (0.34–16.67 μg L⁻¹ for diphenols and 0.26–0.52 μg L⁻¹ for PAHs) were achieved. The advantage of the developed method is that the Fe₃O₄@Au NPs could be reutilized for preconcentrating diverse target analytes in different SPE modes sequentially simply through treatment with desired thiol-containing ligands.     

Hemimicelle capped functionalized carbon nanotubes-based nanosized solid-phase extraction of arsenic from environmental water samples

The end functionalization of CNTs can introduce oxygen-containing negatively functional groups such as -COOH, -OH, or -CO on their surface site. If cationic surfactant such as cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) was added to the functionalized CNTs, then interactions such as hydrophobic and ionic may lead to formation of hemimicelle/admicelle aggregates on the CNTs, a new kind of adsorbents, namely, the hemimicelle capped CMMWCNTs, is obtained. The application of the hemimicelle capped carbon nanotubes-based nanosized solid-phase extraction (SPE) adsorbents in environmental analysis is reported for the first time using arsenic as model target. The effect of adsorption and desorption conditions for arsenic including the amount of surfactant, initial pH of sample solution, the ultrasonic time of sample solution, the amount of electrolyte, flow rate, eluent and its amount were investigated and optimized prior to its determination by atomic fluorescence spectrophotometry (AFS). Arsenic can be quantitatively retained on the hemimicelle capped CMMWCNTs at pH 5-6 from sample volume up to 500 mL and then eluted completely with 2 mol L⁻¹ HNO₃ in the presence of 10 mg L⁻¹ CTAC. The method detection limit for arsenic determination with AFS detection was 2 ng L⁻¹, and the relative standard deviation (RSD, n = 11) was 5.3% at the 0.5 μg L⁻¹ level. The recoveries of arsenic in the spiked environmental water samples ranged from 94% to 104.29% with 500 mL of water sample. The proposed method has been applied successfully to the analysis of arsenic in aqueous environmental samples, which demonstrates the hemimicelle capped CMMWCNTs can be an excellent SPE adsorbents for arsenic pretreatment and enrichment from real water samples.     

Determination of iodide by detection of iodine using gas-diffusion flow injection and chemiluminescence

This work describes development of a flow injection (FI) system for determination of iodide, based on the chemiluminescence (CL) reaction between iodine and luminol. Iodide in the sample zone is oxidized to iodine. Employment of a gas-diffusion (GD) unit allows for selective detection of the generated CL (425 nm). Preliminary results showed for concentrations of less than 2 mg L⁻¹, that signals were irreproducible and that the calibration was not linear.In order to solve these problems, a method of ‘membrane conditioning’ was investigated, in which iodide stream was continuously merged with oxidant to generate I₂ that conditioned the GD membrane and tubing. This minimized surface interaction between the active surface and the I₂ generated from the samples, thus improving both precision and sensitivity. By employing membrane conditioning, it has been possible to reliably detect concentrations down to 0.1 mg L⁻¹.At the optimized condition, an excellent linear calibration (r² = 0.999) was obtained from 0.1 to 1.0 mg L⁻¹. The method was successfully applied to determine iodide in some pharmaceutical products such as potassium iodide tablets and a liquid patent medicine. However, for vitamin tablets, ascorbic acid was found to interfere seriously by causing a negative signal.     

A highly sensitive coupling technique for the determination of trace quercetin based on solid substrate room temperature phosphorimetry and poly (vinyl alcohol) complex imprinting

Al³⁺ could react with quercetin (Q) to form [AlQ]³⁺ complex which could be used as a template for the preparation of poly (vinyl alcohol)–[AlQ]³⁺ complex imprinting (PVA-C-I). The [AlQ]³⁺ not only had good matching ability and selectivity with the cavity of PVA-C-I, but also could react with the fluorescein isothiocyanate anion (FITC⁻) on the outside of cavity by electrostatic interaction to form ion-association complex [AlQ]³⁺·[(FITC)⁻]₃. The ion-association complex could emit strong and stable room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) on polyamide membrane (PAM) and the ΔI_p of the system had linear relationship with the content of Q, showing the highly selective identification of PVA-C-I to Q. Thus, a new coupling technique for the determination of trace Q based on solid substrate room temperature phosphorimetry and poly (vinyl alcohol) complex imprinting (PVA-C-I-SSRTP) was established. The linear range and limit of detection (LOD) of this method were 0.010–2.0 (×10⁻¹² g mL⁻¹) and 2.0 × 10⁻¹⁴ g mL⁻¹, respectively, showing wide linear range and high sensitivity of PVA-C-I-SSRTP. This method was used to determine the content of Q in waste water, and the results are consistent with those by spectrofluorimetry. Meanwhile, the mechanism for the determination of Q using PVA-C-I-SSRTP was also discussed.