Solid Phase Extraction of Copper Ions using a Chemically Modified SBA-15 Mesoporous Silica

A new method was proposed for the preconcentration of copper ions using a column packed with SBA-15 meso porous silica functionalized with N-Propylsalicylaldimine. The effects of various parameters such as pH, flow rate of sample, elution conditions, sample volume and enrichment factor, and the influence of some matrix elements have been studied. The dynamic adsorption capacity for Cu2+ under optimized conditions was 985.6 mu g.g(-1). The adsorbed metal ions were quantitatively eluted by 2 mL of IM HCl(enrichment factor of 200).Common coexisting ions did not interfere with the separation. Copper was determined from spiked tap water and mineral water by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) after preconcentration on this new solid-phase extraction (SPE) material. The obtained recoveries were 103 +/- 3% and 97 +/- 2%, respectively. The LOD and LOQ values of the proposed method were found to be 6.0 x 10(-6) and 1x 10(-5) mM. For three preconcentration experiments the relative standard deviation was found to be <= 5% in all cases proving high accuracy and precision of the presented method.