Use of Ionic liquids as additives in ion exchange chromatography for the analysis of cations

The behavior of acids (citric acid, nitric acid, oxalic acid, tartaric acid) as a mobile phase and imidazolium ionic liquids (the bromides, tetrafluoroborates and hexafluorophosphates of 1-ethyl, 1-butyl, and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium) as additives in ion exchange chromatography for cations (Na⁺ , K⁺ , Mg²⁺ , Ca²⁺ ) separation were studied. The results showed that nitric acid and 1-hexyl-3-methyl-imidazolium hexafluorophosphate offered the most interesting features in the separation of cations, such as lower retention time and better resolution. The selected optimal conditions were achieved by adding 0.10 mM 1-hexyl-3-methyl-imidazolium hexafluorophosphate in 4.0 mM HNO₃ mobile phase for the separation of four cations with the flow rate of 0.9 mL/min at room temperature (25°C). The linear regression equations of Na⁺ , K⁺ , Mg²⁺ , Ca²⁺ were S = 4.4763c + 0.0209, S = 3.8903c - 0.0087, S = 6.3974c - 0.0173, and S = 7.601c - 0.0339 and the limits of detection of Na⁺ , K⁺ , Mg²⁺ , Ca²⁺ were 0.296, 4.98, 0.0970, and 1.22 μg/L, respectively. In this work, four cations in samples were successfully detected.