Preconcentration and determination of lead, cadmium and nickel from water samples using a polyethylene glycol dye immobilized on poly(hydroxyethylmethacrylate) microspheres

A simple and sensitive preconcentration analysis-atomic absorption spectrometric procedure is described for the determination of lead, cadmium and nickel. The method is based upon on-line preconcentration of metal ions on a minicolumn of Cibacron Blue F3-GA immobilized on poly(hydroxyethylmethacrylate), poly(HEMA). The enrichment factors obtained were 42 for lead, 52 for cadmium and 63 for nickel (sample volume 10 mL and sample flow rate 5 mL/min). The relative standard deviations (n=10), in 10 mL sample solutions containing 100 mu g/L Pb2+, 10 mu g/L Cd2+ and 100 mu g/L Ni2+ were 8.9, 3.7 and 3.5%, respectively. The limits of detection (blank+3s) (n=10), were found to be 12.01 mu g/L for Pb2+, 1.34 mu g/L for Cd2+ and 28.73 mu g/L for Ni2+. The accuracy of the system was checked with certified and tap water samples spiked with known amounts of metal ions. No significant difference was found between the achieved results and the certified values.