Abstrakt

Spectrophotometric quantification of germanium (IV) in environmental samples using chemically modified chitosan sorbent and optimized cloud phase extraction method

Islam MI Moustafa, Zakia AL-Mallah, Alaa S Amin

Biopolymers as chitosan which is one of the emerging sorption material for the removal of metal ions was applied to determine germanium(IV), even at low concentrations. A selective, sensitive and rapid method was described for preconcentrative determination of Ge(IV) using the synthesized 2-amino-4-(m-tolyazo)pyridine-3-ol (ATAP), which was chemically immobilized on chitosan. The sorbent synthesized material was selective to Ge(IV) within a best response time of 10 min. The procedure was selective in presence of other diverse anions and cations. Under the optimum experimental conditions, calibration plots were linear over the concentration range of 2.5 to 75 ng mL−1 of Ge(IV). The obtained results are 100 times lower than by the direct determination of Ge(IV) by FAAS. The developed method is repeatable with a relative standard deviation of 2.55%. The developed sorbent was applied successfully to determine Ge(IV) in environmental samples. Unlike most preconcentration methods, the present enrichment work allowed for a rapid and reliable determination of Ge(IV) in real water and soil samples by the simple, rapid and routinely available spectrophotometric technique.