USE OF SURFACTANT AGGREGATES FORMED ON ALUMINA FOR THE PREPARATION OF CHELATING SORBENTS

To 1.5 g of gamma-alumina particles in 40 ml of water was added 10 ml of ammoniacal solution containing 1.5 mg of dithizone and 100 mg of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The solution was acidified to pH 2 to form the surfactant aggregates on the alumina surfaces, into which dithizone was trapped. Traces of copper(II) and silver(I) in water were completely collected on the dithizone-coated alumina over a wide range of pH 1 - 7; cadmium(II), cobalt(II), nickel(II), lead(II) and zinc(lI) were simultaneously recovered at pH 3 - 7. The chelating sorbent functioned well even in aqueous solutions containing a large amount of matrix element. The proposed sorption method has been successfully applied to the determination of traces of copper in lead metal.