Solid Phase Extraction and Determination of Ultra Trace Amounts of Copper using Activated Carbon Modified by N,N′‐Bis(Salicylidene)‐1,2‐Phenylenediamine

Abstract

N,N′‐bis(salicylidene)‐1,2‐phenylenediamine(salophen) modified activated carbon was prepared and used as an effective sorbent for solid phase extraction of Cu(II) ions from aqueous solutions. The salophen modified activated carbon showed a high sorption affinity for Cu(II). In this method a column mode was used for preconcentration of copper(II) in the pH range 3.5–6.5. The retained copper was eluted with 0.1 mol l^?1 EDTA and determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The calibration graph was linear over the copper concentration in the range 0.05–1.5 µg ml ^?1. Five replicate determination of 0.4 µg ml^?1 of copper(II) gave a mean absorbance of 0.385 with a relative standard deviation of 1.35%. The detection limit was 0.0133 µg ml^?1. The interference of a large number of anions and cations has been studied and the optimized conditions developed were utilized for determination of copper in various real samples.