Chelating Performance Evaluation of Ion Exchange Resin Chelex-100

This study aims to answer the question about the chelating capacity of Chelex-100 resin according to the size of grains obtained after different grindings of a 200–400 mesh powder. Optical microscopy was used for size characterization of different new sub-types of resin obtained after grinding. The copper chelating capacity was evaluated using inductively coupled plasma−mass spectrometry. Grinding enables copper to be chelated by all iminodiacetate groups of the resin. Thus, the copper chelating capacity increases by 17% compared to unground resin and is more repeatable from one aliquot to another (1% RSD with optimal grinding versus 3% without grinding).