Ionic imprinted polymer for nickel recognition by using the bi-functionalized 5-vinyl-8-hydroxyquinoline as a monomer: Application as a new solid phase extraction support

A new ionic imprinted polymer (IIP) for Ni(II) recognition/pre-concentration was prepared via precipitation polymerization using 2-(diethylamino) ethyl methacrylate (DEM) and divinylbenzene (DVB) as a crosslinking agent in the presence of nickel(II) and 5-vynil-8-hydroxyquinoline (5-VHQ) as a bi-functionalized ligand. An important increase on the selectivity of the synthesised IIP for nickel(II) ions was obtained when comparing to the use of 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) as a ligand. The synthesised IIP was used as a new support for solid phase extraction (SPE) of nickel(II) from seawater before inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) detection. Variables affecting the SPE process, such as pH, load and elution flow rates, and concentration and volume of the eluting solution, were fully evaluated. The optimised procedure consists of a sample loading (100 mL of seawater at a pH of 9.0 ± 0.1) through IIP-SPE cartridges containing 300 mg of the synthesised IIP at a flow rate of 3.0 mL min^{− 1}. Elution was performed by passing 2.5 mL of 2.0 M nitric acid at a flow rate of 1.5 mL min^{− 1}, which gave a pre-concentration factor of 40. The limit of detection (LOD) of the method was 0.26 µg L^{− 1}, while the relative standard deviation (RSD) for eleven replicated measurements was 3%. Accuracy of the method was assessed by analyzing SLEW-3 (estuarine water) and TM-23.3 (lake water) certified reference materials. In addition to the selectivity of the synthesised material for nickel(II) ions against other transition metal ions and major alkaline and alkaline-earth metals (Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺) in seawater, it can be stated that the salt matrix is efficiently removed by using the proposed IIP-SPE procedure.