Separation of some platinum group metal chelates with 8-hydroxyquinoline by various high-performance liquid chromatographic methods

Different HPLC methodologies are employed to evaluate the separation and de termination of some platinum metals (Pt, Pd, Ir and Ph) after the formation of 8-hydroxyquinolate chelates. With the aim of reducing the number of ste ps in treating the samples, the method developed did not include the elimin ation of excess chelating reagent before the analysis of metal chelates. Re versed-phase (RP), non-aqueous reversed-phase (NARP) and normal-phase (NP) HPLC are compared. The RP-HPLC method only permits the quantitative separat ion of Rh and Pd from the excess reagent. A silica column can be used to se parate Ir and Rh by NP-HPLC. The NARP-HPLC method allows for the effective separation of the four elements tested, but the high detection limit (90 ng ) for platinum and the peak width do not favour its application for quantit ative measurement. Platinum group metals can be quantitatively separated an d determined by NP-HPLC using a cyano column in less than 15 min. The broad linear range of all the elements (between 1 and 500 ng) is superior to tha t which has been previously reported and the detection limits (1.0 ng for P t, 0.3 ng for Pd, 1.0 ng for Ir and 0.3 ng for Rh) are slightly lower. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.