Determination of trace metals as n-butyl-2-naphthylmethyldithiocarbamates by high-performance liquid chromatography with a fixed-wavelength absorbance detector

The determination of traces of metals by high-performance liquid chromatography of their n-butyl-2-naphthylmethyldithiocarbamate complexes, with a fixed-wavelength absorbance detector, is described. Metal complexes of this ligand are thermodynamically stable and kinetically inert towards dissociation. Various metal complexes, including those of nickel(II), iron(III), mercury(II), thallium(III), platinum(II), palladium(II), copper(II), and cobalt(II) are readily determined. The practical aspects of their separation on various nonpolar stationary phase columns are discussed. The detection limits compare very favorably with those of atomic spectrometry and are about 0.1 ng or approximately 10nM.