Cloud point extraction preconcentration for capillary electrophoresis of metal ions Original Research Article

The application of the cloud point extraction (CPE) technique for capillary electrophoresis (CE) determination of metal ions was demonstrated using Cu(II) and Co(II) as model metal ions. The preconcentration of Cu(II) and Co(II) in aqueous solution was achieved by CPE with 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) as the chelating agent and Triton X-114 as the extractant. Baseline separation of the PAN chelates of Cu(II) and Co(II) was realized by CE with a photodiaode array detector in a 50 cm×75 μm i.d. fused-silica capillary at 17 kV. A 50 mM NH4Ac buffer solution (pH 8.0) containing 0.2 mM of PAN in 80% (v/v) of acetonitrile and 20% (v/v) doubly deionized water (DDW) was used as the separation medium to avoid the adsorption of hydrophobic substances and nonionic surfactant Triton X-114 onto the inner surface of the separation capillary, ensuring the separation efficiency and reproducibility. The precision (relative standard deviation (R.S.D.), n=5) for five replicate injections of a mixture of 20 μg/l of Co(II) and Cu(II) were 0.74 and 1.8% for the migration time, 3.1 and 0.64% for the peak area measurement, respectively. The apparent concentration factor, which is defined as the concentration ratio of the analyte in the final diluted surfactant-rich extract ready for CE separation and in the initial solution, was 15.9 for Co(II) and 16.3 for Cu(II). The linear concentration range was from 3 to 100 μg/l for both Co(II) and Cu(II). The detection limits of Co(II) and Cu(II) were 0.12 and 0.26 μg/l, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of Co(II) and Cu(II) in tap water, snow water, and flavor wines.