Determination of trace amounts of copper and zinc in sea water with polymer-supported 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane

The very low affinity of tetraaza macrocycles for alkali and alkaline earth metals make them attractive for the preconcentration of transition metals from seawater. Three different procedures for determinations of copper and zinc with 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane (cyclam) bound to poly(chloromethyl)vinylbenzene are described. Results for both metals in estuarine and oceanic waters, compared to those obtained with Chelex-100 resin, show that the polymer-supported cyclam provides > 95% extraction of these two metals. The resin is used as a solid sample for electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry, or the metal is back-extracted with nitric acid for injection.