Selective concentration of gold in water to a polystyrene-embedded fiber disk with polyoxyethylene(10)-p-isononylphenyl ether

A new surfactant-mediated separation method was developed for concentrating traces of gold ion in water. The methodology is based on the combination o f selective complexation of gold(III) with polyoxyethylene(10)-p-isononylph enyl ether, PONPE-10, and strong binding of surfactant complex to hydrophob ic polystyrene resins embedded in a PTFE fiber disk (Empore disk). A 400-fo ld concentration of gold(III) was achieved by 400 ml load of the sample con taining 0.01% (w/v) PONPE-10 and 0.10 M nitric acid and by the subsequent e lution with 1.0 ml of aqueous buffer solution of 0.01 M N-(dithiocarboxyl)s arcosine diammonium. Traces of gold (0.40 ng/l) in river water samples were successfully determined with inductively coupled plasma MS. (C) 2001 Elsev ier Science B.V. All rights reserved.