A novel method of the separation/preconcentration and determination of trace molybdenum(VI) in water samples using microcrystalline triphenylmethane loaded with salicyl fluorone

It is the first time that triphenylmethane was used as an adsorbent to preconcentrate and separate trace amount of molybdenum in water samples. The effects of different parameters, such as acidity, stirring time and various metal ions, the amounts of triphenylmethane and salicyl fluorine, etc. on the enrichment yield of molybdenum have been studied to optimize the experimental conditions. Under the optimum conditions, molybdenum can be adsorbed on the surface of microcrystalline triphenylmethane loaded with salicyl fluorone by the intermolecular action strength. The possible reaction mechanism for the enrichment of molybdenum was discussed in detail in this paper. Mo(VI) can be completely separated from Pb(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Cr(III), Ni(II), Hg(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), Fe(III) and Al(III) in the solution. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of trace amount of molybdenum in various water samples by spectrophotometry after preconcentration using microcrystalline triphenylmethane. The preconcentration factor is from 83 (500 ml water sample was enriched to 6.0 ml) to 166 (1000 ml water sample was enriched to 6.0 ml). The detection limit is 1.3 × 10−5 mg l−1 and the linearity is maintained in the concentration range 3.8 × 10−3 to 0.36 mg l−1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9998. The recoveries are in the range of 93.5–104%. The relative standard deviation is 1.8–2.9%. Analytical results obtained with this novel method are very satisfactory.