Selective magnetic mercury(ii) ion capturing ligand-doped silica gel for water analysis

Preparation of selective magnetic adsorbents for dispersive micro-solid phase extraction often involves multi-step reactions which are time consuming. This study demonstrates a simplified method for the synthesis of a magnetic adsorbent, which is selective towards the adsorption of mercury(ii) ions (Hg²⁺). In this method, the incorporation of a metal capturing ligand (3-oxo-1,3-diphenylpropyl-2-(naphthalen-2-ylamino) ethylcarbamodithioate) and the coating of magnetic particles with silica gel was performed in a single step. This adsorbent was then used in solid-phase microextraction for the preconcentration of Hg²⁺ in water. In this study, a mercury analyzer was used to quantify the Hg²⁺. Under optimized conditions, the developed analytical method achieved a low detection limit (4.0 ng L^-1), satisfactory enrichment factor (96.4) and wide linearity range (50.0-5000 ng L^-1) with a good coefficient of determination (0.9985) and good repeatability (<7%). The preconcentration factor of this method was 100. This proposed method was also successfully utilized for the determination of Hg²⁺ in drinking water, tap water and surface water with good recovery (>91%) and high intra-day and inter-day precision.