Determination of palladium,platinum, and rhodium by HPLC with online column enrichment using 4-carboxylphenyl-thiorhodanine as a precolumn derivatization reagent

In the present work, 4-carboxylphenyl-thiorhodanine (CPTR) was synthesized. A new method for the simultaneous determination of palladium, platinum, and rhodium ions as metal-CPTR chelates was developed using rapid column high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with an online enrichment capability. Palladium, platinum, and rhodium ions were precolumn-derivatized with CPTR to form colored chelates. The Pd-CPTR, Pt-CPTR, and Rh-CPTR chelates can absorbed onto the front of the enrichment column (ZORBAX Stable Bound, 4.6 × 10 mm, 1.8 μm) when they are injected with a buffer solution of 0.05 M sodium acetate-acetic acid (pH 3.5) as mobile phase. After the enrichment had finished, by switching the six-port switching valve, the retained chelates were back-flushed by mobile phase and moved towards the analytical column. The chelate separation on the analytical column (ZORBAX Stable Bound, 4.6 × 50 mm, 1.8 μm) was achieved with 46% acetonitrile (containing 0.05 M of pH 3.5 sodium acetate-acetic acid buffer and 0.01 M tritonX-100) as mobile phase. The palladium, platinum, and rhodium were separated completely within 2 min. The detection limits (S/N = 3) of palladium, platinum, and rhodium are 1.4, 1.6, and 2.0 ng/L, respectively. The method was applied to the determination of palladium, platinum, and rhodium in water, urine, and soil samples with good results. The text was submitted by the authors in English.