Anion-exchange chromatography of metal cyanide complexes with gradient separation and direct UV detection

In the regulatory analysis of water samples, cyanide content is usually expressed in various forms as free cyanide, total cyanide, weak-acid dissociable cyanide, available cyanide, and cyanide amenable to chlorination. Concentration of individual metal cyanide complex, not furnished in any of these methods, is useful in meaningful assessment of toxicity due to cyanide. In the present work, two macroporous anion-exchange columns, having high and intermediate hydrophobicity, were evaluated to achieve separation of cyano complexes of silver, iron, gold, copper, nickel, and cobalt. On the QS-A1 SC column, of high hydrophobicity, the monovalent cyano complexes of silver and gold eluted last while the multivalent cyano complexes, e.g. iron and copper, eluted early. It is suggested that the retention order on this column is due to relative hydrophobicity of the metal cyanide complex, and its affect on ion exchange. In contrast, on the QS-A2 SC column of intermediate hydrophobicity, with the exception of cyano complex with Fe, the separation of the cyano complexes of five other metals closely followed an anion-exchange mechanism. Under gradient conditions, the six metal cyanide complexes were well resolved on the QS-A2 SC column and the method with direct UV detection at 215 nm was accurate (spike recovery of 99.8–118.8%) and precise (RSD of 1.0–2.6%).