Ionic Liquid-Based Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction Combined with Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry for Determination of Silver in Water Samples

The widespread use of silver compounds and silvercontaining procedures in industry, medicine, jewellery, cloud seeding and in disinfection of drinking water has resulted in an increasing silver content in environmental samples. Silver impregnated filters are used in water disinfection, while silver concentrations up to 200 μg L are permitted for antimicrobial activities for human health. Silver often is presented as an impurity in Cu, Zn, As and Sb ores and thus it is possible to be entered into the environment from industrial wastes. Bowen suggested that silver may pose a potential risk as a water pollutant, because of the lack of recycling of mined silver. The recent information about the interaction of silver with essential nutrients, especially selenium, copper and vitamins E and B12, has focused attention on its potential toxicity. Consequently, determination of trace amounts of silver is important for many areas of chemical analysis. Ultra trace amount of silver ions in environmental samples is a stimulant for applying preconcentration techniques prior to its determination. The most widely used techniques for separation and preconcentration of trace amount of silver ions are coprecipitation, solid-phase extraction (SPE), liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), cloud point extraction (CPE), etc. Liquid-liquid extraction is one of the widely used preconcentration and matrix isolation Ionic Liquid-Based Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction Combined with Flame