On-line preconcentration of phosphate onto molybdate form anion exchange column

In this paper, we describe an automated flow injection system for measuring the concentration of phosphate based on a fluorescence quenching reaction between Rhoadamine 6G and phosphomolybdate with a preconcentration column, which was packed with a molybdate-form ion exchange resin to collect and preconcentrate the phosphate in the sample solution. Rhodamine 6G was chosen because the reaction with phosphomolybdate was fast and did not require heat. For the construction of a stable flow injection system, an aqueous methanol solution was used as the cleaning reagent to overcome the precipitation of ion-associated complexes between Rhodamine 6G and phosphomolybdate or Rhodamine 6G and molybdate. For the preconcentration and collection of the phosphate ions in a water sample, a preconcentration column, which was packed with a molybdate-form ion exchange resin, was combined with the proposed flow injection system and applied to natural water samples containing low concentrations of phosphate.