Combined cation-exchange and solid phase extraction for the selective separation and preconcentration of zinc, copper, cadmium, mercury and cobalt among others using azo-dye functionalized resin

A facile synthesis of an ion exchange material (FSG-PAN) has been achieved by functionalizing silica gel with an azo-dye. Its composition and structure are well assessed by systematic analysis. Extractor possesses high BET surface area (617.794 m2 g−1), exchange capacity and break-through capacity (BTC) (Q0 Zn(II): 225; Cd(II): 918; Hg(II): 384, Cu(II): 269 and Co(II): 388 μM g−1). The sorption process was endothermic (+ΔH), entropy-gaining (+ΔS) and spontaneous (−ΔG) in nature. Preconcentration factor has been optimized at 172(Zn(II)); 157.2(Cd(II)); 193.6(Hg(II)); 176(Cu(II)); 172.4(Co(II)). Density functional theory calculation has been performed to analyze the sorption pathway. BTC (μM g−1) of FSG-PAN was found to be the product of its frontier orbitals and state of sorbed metal ion species, x (at x = 1, mononuclear and x > 1, a polynuclear species; i.e., BTC = [amount of HOMO] × x). FSG-PAN is used for the selective separation and preconcentration of Zn(II), Cd(II), Hg(II), Cu(II),Co(II) from large volume sample (800 mL) of low concentration (0.017-0.40 mM L−1) in presence of foreign ions (50-300 mM L−1) at optimum conditions (pH: 7.0 ± 1.5, flow rate: 2.5 mL min−1, temperature: 27 °C, equilibration-time: 5 min). The method was found to be effective for real samples also.