Improved immobilization of 8-hydroxyquinoline on polyacrylonitrile fiber and application of the material to the determination of trace metals in seawater by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A modified synthetic method has been developed for immobilization of 8-hydroxyquinoline on polyacrylonitrile fiber. The synthetic conditions, e.g. reagent concentration, reaction temperature and time, were optimized. The features of the newly-modified fiber are higher exchange capacity compared with most other materials containing immobilized 8-hydroxyquinoline, better mechanic characteristics, high stability at both high and low pH, and ease of synthesis. This modified fiber can concentrate and separate trace metals from matrices with higher concentrations of alkali and alkaline earth elements. To validate the characteristics of the modified fiber, trace metals Ag, Be, Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the certified reference materials river water (SLRS-4) and seawater (CASS-4, NASS-5, SLEW-3) were pre-concentrated before determination by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Good agreement was obtained between the data obtained by this method and the certified values.