Synthesis and characterisation of novel chelating resin for selective preconcentration and trace determination of Pb(II) ions in aqueous samples by innovative microsample injection system coupled flame atomic absorption spectrometry

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam waste (white pollutant) was utilised for the synthesis of novel chelating resin i.e. EPS-N=N-alpha-Benzoin oxime (EPS-N=N-Box). The synthesised resin was characterised by FT-IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis. A selective method for the preconcentration of Pb(II) ions on EPS-N=N-Box resin packed in mini-column was developed. The sorbed Pb(II) ions were eluted with 5.0mL of 2.0molL(-1) HCl and determined by microsample injection system coupled flame atomic absorption spectrometry (MIS-FAAS). The average recovery of Pb(II) ions was achieved 95.5% at optimum parameters such as pH 7, resin amount 400mg, flow rates 1.0mLmin(-1) (of eluent) and3.0mLmin(-1) (of sample solution). The total saturation capacity of the resin, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of Pb(II) ions were found to be 30mgg(-1), 0.033 mu gL(-1) and 0.107 mu gL(-1), respectively with preconcentration factor of 300. The accuracy, selectivity and validation of the method was checked by analysis of sea water (BCR-403), wastewater (BCR-715) and Tibet soil (NCS DC-78302) as certified reference materials (CRMs). The proposed method was applied successfully for the trace determination of Pb(II) ions in aqueous samples.