Dithizone immobilized silica gel on-line preconcentration of trace copper with detection by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

A novel adsorbent-silica gel bound dithizone (H2Dz-SG) was prepared and used as solid-phase extraction of copper from complex matrix. The H2Dz-SG is investigated by means of FT-IR spectra and the SEM images, demonstrating the bonding of dithizone. The H2Dz-SG quantitatively adsorb copper ions, and the retained copper is afterwards collected by elution of 10% (v/v) nitric acid. An on-line flow injection solid-phase extraction procedure was developed for trace copper separation and preconcentration with detection by flame atomic spectrometry. By loading 5.4 mL of sample solution, a liner range of 0.5–120 μg L−1, an enrichment factor of 42.6, a detection limit of 0.2 μg L−1 and a precision of 1.7% RSD at the 40 μg L−1 level (n = 11) were obtained, along with a sampling frequency of 47 h−1. The dynamic sorption capacity of H2Dz-SG to Cu2+ was 0.76 mg g−1. The accuracy of the proposed procedure was evaluated by determination of copper in reference water sample. The potential applications of the procedure for extraction of trace copper were successfully accomplished in water samples (tap, rain, snow, sea and river). The spiking recoveries within 91–107% are achieved.