Synthesis of polyacrylaminoimidazole chelating fiber and properties of concentration and separation of trace Au, Hg and Pd from samples

A novel polyacrylaminoimidazole chelating fiber is synthesized simply and rapidly from nitrilon (an acrylonitrile-based synthetic fiber) and used for the preconcentration and separation of trace Au(III), Hg(II) and Pd(IV) ions from solution samples. The analyzed ions can be quantitatively concentrated by the fiber up to a flow rate of 15.0 ml min(-1) at pH 3 and can also be desorbed with 15 nil of 4 M HCl + 3% thiourea from the fiber column, with recoveries of 96.5-100%. The chelating fiber is reused ten times; the recoveries of these ions are still over 92%, and 100-1000 times of excess of Fe(III), Al(III), Ca(II), Mg(II), Ni(H), Mn(H), Cu(II), Zn(H) and Cd(II) causes no interference in the determination of these ions by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The capacities of the fiber for the analytes are in the range of 1.56-2.92 mmol g(-1). The results show that the relative standard deviations for the determination of 50.0 ng ml(-1) each of Au(III), Hg(IV) and Pd(IV) are in the range of 0.7-2.1%. The recoveries of a standard added in real solution samples are between 97 and 99%, and the concentration of each ion in powder sample detected by the method is in good agreement with the certified value. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.