A solid phase extraction procedure for Fe3+, Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions on 2-phenyl-1H-benzo[d] imidazole loaded on Triton X-100-coated polyvinyl chloride

A new and efficient solid phase extraction method is described for the preconcentration of trace heavy metal ions. The method is based on the adsorption of Fe3+, Cu2+ and Zn2+ on 2-phenyl-1H-benzo[d] imidazole (PHBI) loaded on Triton X-100-coated polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The influences of the analytical parameters including pH and sample volume were investigated. Common coexisting ions did not interfere on the separation and determination of analytes under study. The adsorbed analytes were desorbed by using 5 mL of 4 mol L−1 nitric acid. The preconcentration factor is 90. The detection limits (3 sigma) were in the range of 0.95-1 μg L−1. The sorbent exhibited excellent stability and its sorption capacity under optimum conditions has been found to be more than 2.7 mg of ions per gram of sorbent. The recoveries of analytes were generally higher than 95%. The relative standard deviations (R.S.D.s) were generally lower than 4%. The method has been successfully applied to some real samples.