Preconcentration of trace uranium from seawater with solid phase extraction followed by differential pulse polarographic determination in chloroform eluate

In the present study, an effective method is presented for the separation and preconcentration of uranium (VI) by solid phase extraction (SPE). For this purpose, U(VI) oxinate is formed by the reaction of U(VI) with 8-hydroxyquinoline and adsorbed onto the octylsilane (C-8) SPE cartridge. The analyte is completely eluted with chloroform and determined by differential pulse polarography. The SPE conditions were optimized by evaluating the effective factors such as pH, oxine concentration, type and concentration of buffer and masking agent. By the proposed method a preconcentration factor more than 100 was achieved. The average recovery of uranium (VI) oxinate (0.1 mg l(-1)) was 99.8%. The relative standard deviation was 1.6% for seven replicate determinations of uranyl ion in the solution with a concentration 20 mug l(-1). Some concomitant ions such as Ca(+2), Mg(+2) and Fe(+3) which interfere in extraction or determination process of uranium were masked with EDTA in aqueous phase during the extraction process. The proposed method was successfully used for the determination of uranium in Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf water samples.