Highly Sensitive Determination of Butyl Xanthate in Surface and Drinking Water by Headspace Gas Chromatography with Electron Capture Detector

A highly sensitive and convenient method for the determination of butyl xanthate in surface water and drinking water was developed by headspace gas chromatography with electron capture detector (HS–GC–ECD). The analytical method was based on the decomposition of butyl xanthate under an acidic condition, generating carbon disulfide, which could be sensitively detected by gas chromatography with electron capture detector. The signal of CS₂ from the decomposition of potassium butyl xanthate was directly proportional to the concentration of potassium butyl xanthate over the range 0.7–100 ng/mL. The detection limit at a signal-to-noise ratio of three (S/N = 3) for potassium butyl xanthate was 0.3 ng/mL (~1.6 × 10⁻⁹ mol/L), which was more than two orders of magnitude lower than the popular UV methods and close to one order of magnitude lower than the similar headspace gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy method. The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) within a day and in 3 days for potassium butyl xanthate at both 5 and 50 ng/mL was less than 4.7 %, suggesting good analytical performance of the present method. Good recoveries from 93.3 to 104.7 % were obtained from spiked surface and drinking water samples, indicating that the proposed HS–GC–ECD method was applicable for the quantification of butyl xanthate in surface and drinking water. Compared with other reported methods, the present method is highly sensitive, without sample preparation, and easily extended to the analysis of other xanthates.