Uptake monitoring of anilines and phenols using modified zeolites Original Research Article

Uptake monitoring of a group of environmentally important phenolic and aniline compounds including aniline, phenol, 4-methylaniline, 4-aminophenol, 2-aminophenol, 4-nitrophenol, 2-nitrophenol and 2-methyl-4-nitrophenol was carried out using micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography. For the removal of tested pollutants, the natural zeolites natrolite and clinoptilolite were examined in which the latter showed better uptakes ranging from 45 to 64% of pollutants from aqueous solution in 4 h. Modification of zeolites with cyclodextrins (CDs), especially, α-CD, considerably improves the uptake efficiency to 65–74% for clinoptilolite. The effects of equilibrium time, type and concentration of CDs were also investigated. The versatility of micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography was shown for this type of study owing to its speed, resolution ability, and simplicity.