Solid phase extraction using nanoporous MCM-41 modified with 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde for simultaneous preconcentration and removal of gold(III), palladium(II), copper(II) and silver(I)

In this paper, functionalized MCM-41 nanoporous silica with 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde was applied for trace determination of copper, silver, gold and palladium in real samples. The content of solutions containing the mentioned metals was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS), and the limit of detection was 0.09, 0.03, 0.5 and 0.08 ng mL−1 for gold, copper, silver, and palladium, respectively. The recoveries and precisions for mentioned ions were >97.0% and <3%, respectively. The adsorption capacity of the modified MCM-41 was 290 mg g−1 for gold, 130 mg g−1 for copper, 160 mg g−1 for silver and 155 mg g−1 for palladium, respectively.