Studies on synthesis and application of XAD-4-salen chelate resin for separation and determination of trace elements by solid phase extraction

The use of chemically modified XAD-4-salen chelating resin had been studied for the separative concentration of metal ions from an aqueous solution. XAD-4-salen was synthesized by diazonium coupling reaction of salenN,N′-bis(salicylidene)ethylenediamine] and Amberlite XAD-4 resin. The distribution coefficient at various pH values and adsorption capacities were obtained with respect to Cu(II), Pb(II) and Bi(III). Trace elements were pre-concentrated on the synthesized XAD-4-salen by batch method for atomic absorption spectrometric determination. Some conditions, such as the pH of aqueous solution, amount of XAD-4-salen, kinds and concentration of acids were optimized for the analytical application of XAD-4-salen. For the pre-concentration of metal ions, the pH of the aqueous solution was adjusted to approximately 5.5, and then it was stirred 30 min after the addition of 50 mg of pulverized XAD-4-salen. The adsorbed metal ions were desorbed by 10 mL of 1.0 M HNO₃. The desorption efficiency of Bi(III) was enhanced by the addition of 30 mg/L of Pd(II). The addition of Pd(II) as a matrix modifier could improve the reproducibility and sensitivity in the Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) determination of volatile lead and bismuth. In the present study, this procedure has been applied for the determination of Cu(II), Pb(II) and Bi(III) in real samples of five kinds of river water, using a standard calibration curve method. Recoveries of 85–120% were obtained in the spiked samples in which given amount of analytes were added.