Application of Ni(II)-imprinted cross-linked poly(methacrylic acid) synthesised through double-imprinting method for the on-line preconcentration of Ni(II) ions in aqueous media

The present paper describes the feasibility of on-line preconcentration of nickel ions from aqueous medium on Ni(II)-imprinted cross-linked poly(methacrylic acid) (IIP) synthesised through a double-imprinting method and their subsequent determination by FAAS. The proposed method consisted in loading the sample (20.0 mL, pH 7.25) through a mini-column packed with 50 mg of the IIP for 2 min. The elution step was performed with 1.0 mol L^?1 HNO₃ at a flow rate of 7.0 mL min^?1. The following parameters were obtained: quantification limit (QL) – 3.74 µg L^?1, preconcentration factor (PF) – 36, consumption index (CI) – 0.55 mL, concentration efficiency (CE) – 18 min^?1, and sample throughput – 25 h^?1. The precision of the procedure assessed in terms of repeatability for ten determinations was 5.6% and 2.5% for respective concentrations of 5.0 and 110.0 µg L^?1. Moreover, the analytical curve was obtained in the range of 5.0–180.0 µg L^?1 (r = 0.9973), and a 1.64-fold increase in the method sensitivity was observed when compared with the analytical curve constructed for the NIP (non-imprinted polymer), thus suggesting a synergistic effect of the Ni(II) ions and CTAB on the adsorption properties of the IIP. The practical application of the adsorbent was evaluated from an analysis of tap, mineral, lake and river water. Considering the results of addition and recovery experiments (90.2–100 %), the efficiency of this adsorbent can be ensured for the interference-free preconcentration of the Ni(II) ions.     

Preliminary Investigation of the Effect of Select Pollutants on Marine Phytoplankton Using Multidimensional Fluorescence Measurements

Abstract

The use of multidimensional fluorescence for detecting the effects of select pollutants on algal fluorescence and production is demonstrated. Multidimensional fluorescence is ideally suited to rapidly measure algal fluorescence generated by both chlorophyll a and accessory pigments, as well as any changes induced by pollutants. Laboratory cultured and natural algae samples from classes Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, and Cyanophyceae were exposed to substituted nitroaromatics and fluorescence spectra of the algae recorded. Notable spectroscopic changes and fluorescence quenching were observed. In addition, a novel method for rapidly preconcentrating dilute natural marine samples is described.     

Off-Line and On-Line Preconcentration Techniques for the Determination of Phenylureas in Freshwaters

Abstract

Phenylurea herbicides are analysed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography using UV detection at 244 nm after a concentration step in order to determine ppb or sub-ppb levels in drinking and river waters. With an average UV detection limit of 5 ng, a 500 ml sample volume is necessary to reach the 10 ppt level for spiked LC grade water samples and enables easy determination of concentrations below the ppb level for river water samples. Off-line and on-line methods are compared for the concentration step. Off-line concentration consists in a liquid sorption on n-octadecyl silica (C18) and elution by a suitable organic solvent. Polar phenylureas have low retention volumes on C18 silica and consequently the length of the concentration column has to be 10 cm to concentrate them at the ppb level from 100 ml of water and longer for lower levels of detection. Nevertheless, we show that increasing the size of the concentration column does not improve the limits of detection because of the numerous interferences also concentrated when percolating high volumes of water. On-line technology can be used only with short precolumns and requires a sorbent with a great retention for phenylureas. The copolymer-based PRP-1 is found to be an excellent sorbent and it is then possible to apply on-line precolumn technology with preconcentration through two precolumns (10 × 21 mm ID) in series, the first one being packed with C18 silica and the other with the PRP-1 polymer. Interfering compounds are then trapped onto the first precolumn acting as a filter and common phenylurea-breakthrough volumes on the PRP-1 precolumn are higher than 500 ml. Knowing the amounts preconcentrated on both precolumns and using UV and electrochemical detection help the identification of phenylureas in river water.     

Online Solid-Phase Extraction of Cd(II), Cu(II), and Co(II) Using Covalently Attached Bis(salicylaldimine) to Silica Gel for Determination in Food and Water by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

In this study, a novel sorbent material bearing a bis(aldimine) group was designed and successfully synthesized by covalently bonding a 2-[N,N′-bis(salicylaldimine)]aminoethyl amine ligand to the silica gel surface that was characterized by carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy technique. The sorbent was used for the online solid-phase extraction (SPE) of Cd(II), Cu(II), and Co(II) ions for their determination at trace concentration levels by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The effective factors for the online SPE such as the pH and the flow rate of the sample solution, and type, volume, and flow rate of eluent were investigated. The concentration levels of Cd(II), Cu(II), and Co(II) were measured in certified reference materials including Virginia tobacco leaves (CTA-VTL-2) and water-trace elements (NWTM-15.2) to validate this method. The metal levels in environmental water were determined by this method, and the values were checked by spiking and recovery experiments and independent analysis by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The adsorption capacities of the sorbent were found to be 41.2, 31.6, and 25.6?mg/g for Cd(II), Cu(II), and Co(II), respectively. This method was also successfully used for the determination of Cd(II), Cu(II), and Co(II) concentrations in rice and molasses.     

Chelating 2,2′-Diaminodiethylamine Cellulose Filters and X-ray Fluorescence for Preconcentration and Trace Analysis of Natural Waters

Abstract

The 2,2′-diaminodiethylamine (DEN) functional group can be expected to have ideal properties for the chelation of transition metals and their collection from aqueous solutions, independent of the alkali and alkaline earth ions concentration. Introducing DEN into cellulose filters allows straightforward preconcentration of trace cations by a simple filtration step, and the DEN-filter constitutes a suitable target for X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. The linearity between the XRF-response on the loaded DEN-filter and the trace cation concentration in the solution appears excellent, up to a total filter capacity of ca. 3 μeq.cm^?2. The detection limits are around 0.5 μg. l^?1 in most practical cases. Accuracy and precision are around 10%. The applicability of the proposed procedure is illustrated on a comparative basis by XRF-analysis of drinking water and surface water, after preconcentration by DEN-filtration and by alternative procedures.     

An improved Sampling Strategy for the Measurement of VOCs in Air,Based on Cooled Sampling and Analysis by Thermodesorption-GC-MS/FID

Abstract

Reliable and comprehensive sampling methods are required to obtain accurate data for VOC concentrations in air samples. The major drawback of the adsorption tube sampling method, widely employed in environmental studies, is the fact that C₂ compounds are usually not trapped quantitatively.

The focus of this work was thus to improve sampling based on adsorption tubes packed with Molsieve and Carbosieve. To improve the sampling efficiency for the C₂ compounds, a cooling device, based on Peltier cooling was constructed, which could be operated at a temperature down to ?30°C.

Experiments under laboratory and field conditions were carried out to study the influence of the sampling temperatuie on the recovery of ethane and ethene as the most volatile VOCs. The results clearly demonstrate the need for a cooled sampling device for the analysis of C₂ compounds in air. Under the investigated conditions, the recoveries with ambient temperature sampling were only in the range of 38–46% for ethane and 33–59% for ethene respectively, in comparison to the cooled sampling device. These findings are only valid for the described conditions and can change significantly with temperature and concentration. A generalisation of the recovery is thus very difficult to give.

The use of the sampling device for a field study is reported, where samples were collected simultaneously at three different altitudes in a diurnal profile on the slope of the Schulterberg mountain in Tyrol (Austria).     

On-line preconcentration and determination of Au(III) in various environmental/industrial samples by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

A rapid and simple on-line method is described for the determination of Au(III) in various samples. The method is based on the sorption of gold(III) on Lewatit MonoPlus TP207 chelating resin including the iminodiacetate group, which is used as sorbent material and packed in a minicolumn. The chemical variables such as the pH of the sample solution, eluent type, interfering ions and concentrations of reagents, and instrumental variables such as sample loading volume, reagents flow rates, and tubing length, which affect the efficiency of the method were studied and optimised. Au(III) was sorbed on the chelating resin, from which it could be eluted with 3 mol L^?1 HCl, and then introduced directly to the nebuliser-burner system of FAAS. The limit of detection of the method was 0.2 µg L^?1 while the relative standard deviation was <4.0% for 20 µg L^?1 Au(III) concentration. The preconcentration factor was found to be 106 while the optimised sample volume was 15.3 mL. The accuracy of the method was verified by analysing the certified reference material. The developed method was applied successfully for the determination of gold in different samples with satisfactory results.     

Real-Time Monitoring of the Mechanical Properties of a Soy Protein and Rubber Polymer during its Production Using Transient Infrared Spectroscopy

Soy protein–based polymers offer promising performance properties, but their characteristics are sensitively dependent on production conditions, so on-line monitoring could help provide the needed control during production. Mid-infrared spectroscopy combined with partial least squares offer the needed analysis, but the opacity of many materials in the mid-infrared range limits its conventional application. Transient infrared spectroscopy is a method of acquiring mid-infrared spectra from moving streams in real time that avoids the opacity problem. We apply transient infrared spectroscopy to a polymer of soy protein and polyisoprene-graft-maleic anhydride–modified natural rubber during its compounding extrusion to measure tensile strength and Young's modulus.     

The effect of cooking and washing rice on the bio-accessibility of As,Cu, Fe,V and Zn using an on-line continuous leaching method

A previously developed method based on continuous on-line leaching with artificial gastro-intestinal fluids was used to determine the bio-accessible fraction of As, Cu, Fe, V and Zn in brown and white rice from California by inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Saliva generally accounted for the largest percentage of total element leached in comparison to gastric and intestinal juices. Arsenic speciation analysis was performed on the saliva and gastric juice leachates using ion exchange chromatography coupled to ICP-MS. The four most toxic species of As (As(III), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) and As(V)), as well as Cl⁻ in the gastric juice leachate, were successfully separated within 5.5 min using a simple nitric acid gradient. While cooking rice had relatively little effect on total bio-accessibility, a change in species from As(V) and DMA to As(III) was observed for both types of rice. On the other hand, washing the rice with doubly deionized water prior to cooking removed a large percentage of the total bio-accessible fraction of As, Cu, Fe, V and Zn.     

Automated high performance liquid chromatography with on-line reduction of disulfides and chemiluminescence detection for determination of thiols and disulfides in biological fluids

In general, the reduction of disulfide bonds with tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) is performed using off-line operation, which is not only time-consuming but also vulnerable to the spontaneous re-oxidation of thiols during sample preparation and subsequent analysis procedures. To the best of our knowledge, there has been not any case on the on-line reduction for biological disulfides coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In this study, these obstacles are overcome by packing Zn(II)-TCEP complexes into a home-made column. The as-synthesized Zn(II)-TCEP complexes enable efficient reduction of disulfide bonds at pH 3.0. This acidic pH value was compatible with that of the mobile phase for HPLC separation of thiols and disulfides. Therefore, using fluorosurfactant-prepared triangular gold nanoparticles as HPLC postcolumn specific chemiluminescence (CL) reagents for thiols, the feasibility of the established on-line reduction column has been confirmed for the direct identification of both thiols and disulfides by incorporating this reduction column into a single chromatographic separation. Detection limits for these analytes range from 8.3 to 25.4 nM and the linear range in a log–log plot can comprise three orders of magnitude. Finally, the utility of this automated on-line reduction of disulfides-HPLC-CL system has been demonstrated for the reliable determination of thiols and disulfides in human urine and plasma samples.