Determination of silver in real samples using homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction based on ionic liquid

A new solvent-free mode of homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction based on ionic liquid (IL) named as modified cold induced aggregation microextraction (M-CIAME), was developed. The method is a fast, solvent free, robust against high medium salt content, and simple for extraction and preconcentration of metal ions from various samples. The extraction of silver was preformed in the presence of 4,4-bis(dimethylamino)thiobenzophenone (TMK) as the complexing agent and sodium hexafluorophosphate (NaPF₆) was added to the sample solution (50°C) containing small amounts of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate Hmim]BF₄]. Afterwards, the solution was placed in the ice bath and a cloudy solution was formed due to the decrease of IL solubility. After centrifuging, the fine droplets of extraction phase were settled of the bottom of the conical bottom glass centrifuge tube. Under the optimum conditions, the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.4 ng/mL. The relative standard deviation (RSD) was 1.8% for 50 ng/mL of silver (n = 5).