Chromatographic behaviour of trace metal ions on a strong base anion exchange resin functionalized by azo ligands

A model which allows the evaluation of the elution volume V(E) and the central point V(C) of the breakthrough curve of a metal ion at trace level on a chromatographic column containing a chelating resin is presented. V(E) and V(C) mainly depend on the complexation properties of the active groups, and on the acidity and composition of the aqueous solution, according to the Gibbs-Donnan model for the resin. The model has been tested in the case of strong base anion exchange resins in chloride form functionalized with two different sulphonated azo ligands (T-azo-C, T-azo-R). The chromatographic behaviour of copper(II) and thorium(IV) is as expected from the formation of a complex with the azo dye in the resin, while that of zinc(II) and cadmium(II) is fully described by also taking into account the formation of anionic chloro complexes inside the resin.