In situ metathesis ionic liquid formation dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction for copper determination in water samples by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

In situ synthesis of ionic liquid extractant for dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (in situ IL DLLME) combined with electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET AAS) for determination of copper in water samples was developed. Analytical signals were obtained without the back-extraction of copper from the IL phase prior to its determination by AAS. Some essential parameters of the microextraction and detection techniques such as the pH of sample solution, volume of components for in situ synthesis, matrix interferences and main parameters of graphite furnace atomizer have been studied. Under optimal conditions, high extraction efficiency for copper was achieved for the extraction of 0.7 µg L−1 in 10.0 mL of sample solution employing 8 μL of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide (HmimNTf2) as the extraction solvent. The detection limit was found as 0.004 µg L−1 with an enrichment factor of 200. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for seven replicate measurements of 0.7 µg L−1 in sample solution was 4%. The accuracy of the proposed method was evaluated by analysis of the Certified Reference Materials: NIST SRM 2709 (San Joaquin Soil), NBS SRM 2704 (Buffalo River Sediment), NRCC DOLT-2 (Dogfish Liver) and NIST SRM 1643e (Trace Element in Water). The measured copper contents in the reference materials were in satisfactory agreement with the certified values. The method was successfully applied to analysis of the tap, lake and mineral water samples.