Determination of trace silver in water, wastewater and ore samples using dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction coupled with flame atomic absorption spectrometry

• A fast and reliable dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction method coupled with FAAS is proposed for the sensitive determination of silver.
• 2-Mercaptobenzimidazol was selected as a complexing agent in organic phase.
• Proposed DLLME method is sensitive, ease of operation and consuming small amounts of reagent and solvents.
• Limit of detection of the present method is better than reported techniques for preconcentration of silver using FAAS.
• The method was applied to determine silver in water, radiology solution and ore samples.

A fast and reliable dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) method for the determination of trace levels of silver by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) was developed. The method is based on highly-efficient separation and preconcentration of silver by the complex formation of Ag(I) with 2-mercaptobenzimidazole and extracted by DLLME procedure using carbon tetrachloride as extraction and acetone as disperser solvent. After establishment of a cloudy solution, the phase separation is achieved and Ag(I) is determined in the enriched phase by FAAS. The method yields a linear calibration curve in the concentration range of 1–100 ng mL−1 of Ag(I), and the limit of detection is 0.41 ng mL−1. The proposed method was successfully applied to determine the trace amounts of silver in water, radiology film processing wastewater and ore samples.

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