Concentration of heavy metal ions in water using thermoresponsive chelating polymer.

Thermoresponsive polymers, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm), having chelating functionalities were synthesized. PNIPAAm-imidazole (-Im) was precipitated and formed a gum-like aggregate in the neutral pH region at 50 degrees C, while PNIPAAm-carboxylic acid (COOH) and PNIPAAm-iminodiacetic acid (-IDA) remained soluble even at pH 7. An addition of a paired ion, dodecyltrimethylammonium ion, was effective for inducing the precipitation of those polymers. PNIPAAm-Im was useful for collecting copper(II), nickel(II), cobalt(II), and lead(II), but was ineffective for cadmium(II) recovery. In contrast, PNIPAAm-COOH collected cadmium(II), while insufficiently recovered cobalt(II) and nickel(II). PNIPAAm-IDA was the best choice for collecting all metal ions in neutral pH's. After 20-folds concentration, the metal ions in river and seawater were successfully determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS).

Ipsilateral thalamic MRI abnormality in an epilepsy patient.

In a 19-year-old patient with status epilepticus arising in the right parietal neocortex, unenhanced ictal MRI showed abnormalities mainly in the right cerebral cortex, contralateral cerebellum, and ipsilateral thalamus. The thalamus is considered a key site of functional abnormality in this patient.

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 of selective complexation of gold(III) with polyoxyethylene(10)-p-isononylphenyl ether, PONPE-10, and strong binding of surfactant complex to hydrophobic polystyrene resins embedded in a PTFE fiber disk (Empore disk). A 400-fold concentration of gold(III) was achieved by 400 ml load of the sample containing 0.01% (w/v) PONPE-10 and 0.10 M nitric acid and by the subsequent elution with 1.0 ml of aqueous buffer solution of 0.01 M N-(dithiocarboxyl)sarcosine diammonium. Traces of gold (0.40 ng/l) in river water samples were successfully determined with inductively coupled plasma MS.

Electrothermal vaporization on a tungsten filament for the determination of arsenic in chloride solutions by low-pressure helium ICP-MS.

A combined method of electrothermal vaporization and low-pressure helium ICP-MS was developed for the determination of traces of arsenic in chloride solutions, because serious spectral interference occurred in conventional argon ICP-MS. On a tungsten filament was placed 5 microl of a sample and heated electrothermally to remove the solvent. The resulting residue on the filament was covered with a vaporization chamber, and after reducing the pressure to ca. 5 Torr, it was rapidly heated by discharging a high-capacity condenser (0.22 F). The vapor of arsenic was transferred to a helium plasma with a stream of carrier gas for the determination. The background was not observed at m/z of 75, which allowed the determination of arsenic at ng/ml levels in chloride solutions. Sodium chloride significantly enhanced the intensity of the arsenic signal, whereas other chlorides, including KCl, MgCl2, CaCl2 and NH4Cl, suppressed the analytical signals. This enhancement due to sodium ions seems to be a peculiar phenomenon to the helium ICP. The proposed method can be applied to direct determinations of as low as 0.9 ng/ml of arsenic in seawater.

Collection of trace heavy metals complexed with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate on surfactant-coated alumina sorbents.

Surfactant aggregates were formed on alumina surfaces by mixing 100 mg of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and 1.5 g of gamma-alumina in 50 ml of water. The SDS-coated alumina incorporated water-insoluble metal-ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate complexes over the pH range 2-8 with a recovery of > 97%. The metals were quantitatively desorbed from the alumina with 4 mol 1(-1) nitric acid, leaving > 99% of SDS on the solid phase. They were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry or graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of traces of iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, cadmium and lead in high-purity alumina.

Water-in-oil emulsion containing oxine for the collection of traces of copper(II) in waterPreliminary stud.

An oil type emulsion containing tiny encapsulated droplets of hydrochloric acid has been used for the concentration of traces of copper(II) ions in water. Milligram quantities of oxine and a non-ionic surfactant (Span-80) were dissolved in 5-10 ml of chloroform and mixed vigorously with 3 ml of 1 mol/l hydrochloric acid by ultrasonic irradiation. The resulting water-in-oil type emulsion was gradually added to 50-500 ml of water sample and dispersed by stirring as numerous small globules (0.1 to 0.5 mm in diameter). The copper diffused through the chloroform layer into the small droplets of hydrochloric acid, which occurred quantitatively in the sample of pH 3-10. After separating the emulsion by sedimentation, it was demulsified by heating to segregate the aqueous and organic phases. The copper in the aqueous phase was successfully determined by GFAAS. The emulsion method allows to perform both extraction and back-extraction more easily and rapidly than the conventional liquid-liquid extraction method.

Coprecipitation with disulfide for the determination of traces of cobalt in water by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry.

Nanogram quantities of cobalt (II) in 200 ml of water were quantitatively collected at pH 4 on a precipitate of disulfide, which is an oxidation product of dithiol (toluene-3,4-dithiol). The precipitate was separated by filtration and dispersed homogeneously in 2 ml of 0.05 mol l(-1) nitric acid with the aid of ultrasonic irradiation. The suspension was directly analyzed for cobalt by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry without serious background absorption. This simple preconcentration technique allows the detection of as little as 3 ng l(-1) (50 pmol l(-1)) of cobalt in water samples. The validity of the method was evaluated by using river and seawater certified reference materials.

Flotation of traces of silver and copper(II) ions with a methyl cellosolve solution of dithizone.

Microgram quantities of silver and copper(II) ions in aqueous solutions are collected on dithizone precipitates, which are then floated with the aid of small nitrogen bubbles. This separation technique has been successfully applied to the atomic-absorption spectrophotometric determination of down to a tenth ppm of silver and copper in high-purity lead and zinc metals.