Preconcentration and Separation of Trace Amounts of Strontium Ions from Alkali and Alkaline Earth Metal Ions Using Octadecyl Silica Membrane Disks Modified with Decyl-18-Crown-6 and Its Determination by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Abstract.

 A simple and reliable method for rapid and selective separation of trace amounts of Sr²⁺ ions from alkali and alkaline earth metal ions by using octadecyl silica membrane disks modified with decyl- 18-crown-6 in the presence of 1.0 × 10⁻³ M picric acid is presented. The influence of picric acid concentration, flow rates and nature and amount of the stripping acid have been investigated. Maximum capacity of the membrane disks modified with 10 mg of the macrocycle was found to be 484 µg of Sr²⁺ ions. The proposed method permitted enrichment factors of about 80 and higher. The limit of detection of the proposed method is 1.5 µg per 1000 ml. The method was successfully applied to the recovery of Sr²⁺ ions from different synthetic and water samples.