Metal Ion Determination by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry through Reagentless Coacervate Phase Separation−Extraction into Lamellar Vesicles

The phase separation of lamellar vesicles of anionic surfactants in aqueous solutions and its application as a novel liquid coacervate extraction procedure was examined. Solutions of lauric acid sodium salt separate into two phases in the presence of alkaline earth metals and a water miscible cosurfactant. It is proven that the surfactant phase is built of a perplexed network of multilamellar vesicles consisting of densely packed bilayers. Several factors affecting the formation of this new phase as well as its analytical utility in the preconcentration of metallic ions were assessed on the basis of better exploitation of this new nonspecific extraction technique. In essence, although the procedure to arrive at the optimum conditions seems laborious, the delivered method is straightforward, alleviating the requirement for prereaction with a complexing agent and highly reproducible under the optimum experimental conditions. As an analytical demonstration, the method was successfully applied to the determination of Cd(2+) and Zn(2+) in natural waters. Recoveries were higher than 95%, and detection limits as low as 3 microg L(-)(1) were accomplished by preconcentrating only 10 mL of sample volume in the presence of 0.45% (w/v) anionic surfactant.