Determination of Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury by On-Line Enrichment Followed by RP-HPLC

A new method for the simultaneous determination of lead, cadmium, and mercury ions as metal tetra-(4-chlorophenyl)-porphyrin (T₄CPP) chelates was developed using reversed-phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and combined with on-line enrichment technique. When the Hg-T₄CPP, Pb-T₄CPP, and Cd-T₄CPP chelates were injected into the injector and sent to the enrichment column with 0.05 mol/L of pH = 10 pyrrolidine-acetic acid buffer solutions (containing 10% of THF) as mobile phase, they were absorbed onto the tip of the enrichment column. By switching the six ports switching valve, the retained chelates can be back-flushed by mobile phase and travel towards the analytical column. With 0.05 mol/L of pH = 10 pyrrolidine-acetic acid buffer solution (containing 10% of THF) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) (containing 0.05 mol/L pH = 10.0 pyrrolidine-acetic acid buffer salt) gradient elution as mobile phase, the separation of chelates on the analytical column was satisfactory. The linearity ranges are 0.01 ± 120 g/L for each metal chelate. The detection limits (S/N = 3) of lead, cadmium, and mercury are 2.0, 1.5, and 2.0 ng/L, respectively. This method was applied to the determination of the g/L level of lead, cadmium, and mercury ions in a water sample with good results.