Investigation of the new sorption preconcentration systems for determination of noble metals in rocks by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.

The reversible sorption preconcentration of noble metals (NMs) prior to their determination by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was investigated. Six new hypercrosslinked polystyrene sorbents were tested. The dependence of the degree of NMs sorption on the average degree of polymer network crosslinking and pore diameters was investigated. It was found that sorbents HP-100/6, HP-300/6 and HP-500/6 have low efficiency of NMs chlorocomplexes extraction. Among Stirosorb sorbents (Stirosorb-2, Stirosorb-514 and Stirosorb-584) the highest efficiency of the extraction of NMs' chlorocomplexes has Stirosorb-514. Tributylamine (TBA), N-methylbenzylamine (MBA), N,N-dimethylbenzylamine (DMBA), N,N-dibenzylmetylamine (DBMA) were studied as the reagents for extraction of Ru, Rh, Pd, Ir, Pt and Au chlorocomplexes from hydrochloric acid solutions in the form of ion associates by reversed-phase mechanism. The reversible quantitative extraction of Ru, Pd, Pt and Au in system Stirosorb-514 - TBA - 1M HCl in ethanol as eluent was achieved. It was found that resulting eluates do not contain matrix components which may cause spectral interferences on the stage of NMs determination by ICP-MS. The found scheme of NMs reversible sorption was validated by the analysis of certified reference materials of basic and ultrabasic rocks GPt-5, GPt-6 and SARM-7. Good agreement between the measured NMs concentrations and the certified values was demonstrated. The achieved limits of detection for Ru, Pd, Pt and Au vary within 10(-8)-10(-7)wt% range.

Modeling of size-exclusion chromatography of electrolytes on non-ionic nanoporous adsorbents.

A dynamic model has been developed for chromatographic separation of mixed electrolyte solutions with non-ionic nanoporous adsorbents. The thermodynamic equilibrium condition at the pore entrance is written in terms of mixing, electrostatic and size-exclusion effects. The model is tested against experimental data measured with three binary mixtures on hypercrosslinked polystyrene and nanoporous carbon. The selectivity of the nanoporous adsorbents can be explained by the size-exclusion of the electrolytes and enrichment of both electrolytes in frontal chromatographic runs can be correlated satisfactorily with the proposed model. The model is also used to demonstrate continuous separation in a simulated moving-bed (SMB) system.

Selectivity in preparative separations of inorganic electrolytes by size-exclusion chromatography on hypercrosslinked polystyrene and microporous carbons.

Preparative-scale separation of concentrated solutions of simplest mineral electrolytes by size-exclusion chromatography was performed on three samples of commercially available microporous hypercrosslinked polystyrene sorbents "Macronet Hypersol" and two experimental samples of activated carbons. Selectivity of separation of a pair of electrolytes was found to be determined by the largest ions in each pair. Fortunately, selectivity rises at higher concentrations of electrolytes, which was explained by exclusion of smaller species from the concentrated solution, i.e., mobile phase, into small pores of the column packing that are inaccessible to large species. The separation of concentrated mixtures revealed another remarkable advantage of the new process - self-concentrating of each of two separated components in the corresponding fractions. Self-concentration is more pronounced for the minor component that occupied less space in the initial mixture. The new method may prove productive in processing pickle bath solutions.

Hypercross-linked polystyrene and its potentials for liquid chromatography: a mini-review.

Hypercross-linked polymeric adsorbing materials are obtained under conditions that (i) their polymeric network is formed in the presence of large amounts of a thermodynamically good solvent (porogen) and (ii) the network is rigid. Hypercross-linked polystyrene is a transparent microporous low-density material with an apparent inner surface area of over 1,000 m2/g and an unprecedented adsorption capacity. To enhance the mass transfer, the adsorbent beads may be provided with large transport pores, in addition to the inherent micropores; these beads are opaque. Hypercross-linked polystyrene sorbents are widely used for large scale adsorption of organic compounds from aqueous and gaseous media and for solid-phase extraction of trace components. Novel perspective application areas of the materials are high-performance liquid chromatography column packings and blood purification. Present mini-review summarises basic principles of obtaining hypercross-linked materials, their structural peculiarities and distinguishing properties, as well as major application areas. Important new unpublished data are also included.

Platinum-containing hyper-cross-linked polystyrene as a modifier-free selective catalyst for L-sorbose oxidation.

Impregnation of hyper-cross-linked polystyrene (HPS) with tetrahydrofuran (THF) or methanol (ML) solutions containing platinic acid results in the formation of Pt(II) complexes within the nanocavities of HPS. Subsequent reduction of the complexes by H2 yields stable Pt nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 1.3 nm in THF and 1.4 nm in ML. The highest selectivity (98% at 100% conversion) measured during the catalytic oxidation of L-sorbose in water is obtained with the HPS-Pt-THF complex prior to H2 reduction. During an induction period of about 100 min, L-sorbose conversion is negligible while catalytic species develop in situ. The structure of the catalyst isolated after the induction period is analyzed by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Electron micrographs reveal a broad distribution of Pt nanoparticles, 71% of which measure less than or equal to 2.0 nm in diameter. These nanoparticles are most likely responsible for the high catalytic activity and selectivity observed. The formation of nanoparticles measuring up to 5.9 nm in diameter is attributed to the facilitated intercavity transport and aggregation of smaller nanoparticles in swollen HPS. The catalytic properties of these novel Pt nanoparticles are highly robust, remaining stable even after 15 repeated uses.

Polymeric adsorbent for removing toxic proteins from blood of patients with kidney failure.

A hypercrosslinked styrenic polymer with an enhanced proportion of mesopores in the range 2-20 nm has been developed. The principle of the synthesis consists of the suspension polymerization of divinylbenzene (or copolymerization of styrene with divinylbenzene) in the presence of a porogen that is a theta-solvent for polystyrene. On the scale of thermodynamic affinity, theta-solvents occupy a border position between good solvents and precipitating media for the growing polymer chains. In this case, microphase separation takes place during the final stages of the polymerization process. The polymer was shown to adsorb 93-98% of beta2-microglobulin from the blood or plasma of patients with chronic kidney failure. At the same time, large essential proteins, like albumin, are not removed to a significant extent, obviously, due to the size-exclusion effect and the difference in the hydrophobicity of the proteins. By replacing surface exposed pendant vinyl groups of the polymer with hydrophilic functional groups, the material was made hemocompatible, according to the standard battery of biocompatibility tests required by ISO 10993 guidelines. No adverse effects such as fever or hypotension were noted in dogs in direct hemoperfusion experiments with the polymer.

Novel polymeric solid-phase extraction material for complex biological matrices. Portable and disposable artificial kidney.

The replacement of conventional hemodialysis treatment for a patient with malfunctioning kidneys by providing him/her with a portable and disposable "artificial kidney" which is connected to implanted artery and veneous cannulas on a patient's wrist is discussed. During a continuous flow of blood, plasma diffuses through a plasmapheretic membrane, passes through a bed of plasmacompatible sorbent Styrosorb, and arrives at an ultrafiltration membrane. Vacuum-operated ultrafiltration removes excess water together with dissolved urea and other small molecules, and Stryosorb removes medium-sized toxic substances. The hemocompatibility of the sorbent is improved by chemical modification of the surface.