Analytical potential of fullerene as adsorbent for organic and organometallic compounds from aqueous solutions

In this work, the analytical potential of C-60 fullerene as a sorbent for organic and organometallic compounds from aqueous solutions was studied for the first time. Fullerene adsorbs many types of organic substances (e.g., N-methylcarbamates, phenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, amines) with efficiencies that depend on the nature of the compound concerned and never exceed 60%. Conventional sorbents such as XAD-2 or polyurethane foam are more efficient than C-60 for this purpose. Organometallic compounds (viz, metalocenes and organoleads) are quantitatively adsorbed on C-60 via the formation of neutral complexes or chelates; the adsorption constant is dramatically increased by the use of classical reagents such as pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate or diethyldithiocarbamate. A complementary comparative study on the adsorption of organometallic complexes on RP-C-18 and silica gel 100, among others, showed C-60 to be superior as sorbent. All experiments in this work were carried out by using continuous flow configurations and gas chromatography-atomic absorption spectrometry techniques. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.