Thin-Layer Chromatographic Separation of Copper and Mercury Chelates

Abstract

Thin-layer chromatographic separation of metal ions has become immensely popular in analytical chemistry in view of its speed, selectivity and applicability at tracer level. Quinoline-2-aldehyde thiosemicarbazone^1,2 was found to form yellow coloured chelates with metal ions such as copper, nickel, zinc, mercury, iron and lead at pH 7.5 and extract into chloroform. This, however reduces the sensitivity of the reagent as a chromogenic agent but the chromatographic run of the chelates on a thin layer of silica gel coated on glass plate increases the specificity and selectivity of the reagent. In this article we propose a method for separation of copper and mercury chelates from binary mixtures containing chelates of zinc, lead, iron and nickel. The method is applicable for analysis of synthetic mixtures and standard samples.