Determination of iron and copper in seawater at pH 1.7 with a new commercially available chelating resin, NTA Superflow

The use of a commercially available chelating resin with NTA-type functional groups for concentration of trace metals from seawater is described. Trace metal recoveries from this NTA Superflow chelating resin are pH dependent. At a pH of ≤2 only iron(III) and copper are quantitatively recovered from the resin. Iron(II) cannot be quantitatively recovered from this resin below a pH of 5. However, oxidation of acidified seawater samples (pH 1.7) with H₂O₂ prior to loading onto the resin has been demonstrated to allow quantitative recovery of total dissolved iron. Deferrioxamine and Rhodoturlic Acid, two commercially available siderophores were used to investigate the effect of strong Fe(III)-binding organic ligands on the ability to retain iron at different pH values. Acidification of seawater samples to pH 1.7 dissociates the iron complexed to these organic ligands, thereby allowing total dissolved iron and copper to be determined. Acidified samples from Monterey Bay were analyzed by a flow injection method coupled to ICP-SFMS detection using the NTA Superflow resin in the pre-concentration step. Results from this study show that when seawater samples are stored acidified (pH 1.7) over time, a portion of iron(III) is reduced to iron(II), thus necessitating the use of H₂O₂ to reoxidize the Fe(II) to Fe(III) prior to analysis. Total dissolved concentrations of iron and copper can be directly obtained on seawater samples at pH 1.7 with this method, eliminating the need to buffer the sample to a higher pH prior to column loading. This resin has the potential to be used in shipboard or in situ flow injection methods.