Study of SPADNS as mobile-phase complexing agent for metal ion separation in reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

The possibility of employing SPADNS as a mobile-phase complexing agent in RP-HPLC determination of metal ions has been investigated. Separation of Fe(II), Cu(II), and SPADNS has been performed using a 50:50 (vv) methanol-water mixture 0.02 M in TBA and 10−5 M in SPADNS as mobile phase. Sensitivity was very poor with this mobile phase. When the SPADNS concentration in the solution was increased to 10−3 M, sensitivity improved and detection limits of 2.1 and 1.7 ppm for Fe(III) and Cu(II), respectively, were obtained. However, no selectivity was obtained under these conditions.