Differential pulse polarographic determination of uranium(VI) in complex materials after adsorption of its trifluoroethylxanthate cetyltrimethylammonium ion-associated complex on naphthalene adsorbent.

Uranium(VI) is adsorbed as a uranium trifluoroethylxanthate (TFEX)-cetyltrimethylammonium (CTMA) ion-pair complex on microcrystalline naphthalene quantitatively in the pH range 4.2 - 7.0. Without cetyltrimethylammonium as the counter ion, the adsorption is hardly 70%. The metal has been desorbed with HCI and determined with a differential pulse polarograph. Uranium can alternatively be quantitatively adsorbed on TFEX-CTMA-naphthalene adsorbent packed in a column at a flow rate of 1 - 5 ml/min and determined similarly. A well-defined peak has been obtained in this medium at -0.20 V versus a saturated calomel electrode. Cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse polarography and D.C. polarography studies indicate that uranium has been reduced irreversibly under these conditions. The detection limit is 0.30 microg/ml at the minimum instrumental settings (signal-to-noise ratio of 2) (with a preconcentration factor of 10, the detection limit would be 30 ng/ml for uranium when the volume in the cell is 15 ml). However if the volume in the cell is 5 ml, it would have been 10 ng/ml with a preconcentration factor of 30. Linearity is maintained in a concentration range of 0.5 - 19.0 microg/ml (2.1 - 79.83 x 10(-9) M) with a correlation factor of 0.9994 and a relative standard deviation of +/-1.1% (in this case 7.5 microg may be concentrated from 150 ml of the aqueous sample where its concentration is as low as 50 ng/ml). Various parameters, such as the effect of the pH, volume of the aqueous phase, flow rate and the interference of a large number of metal ions and anions on the determination of uranium, have been studied in detail to optimize the conditions for its trace determination in various complex materials, like alloys, coal fly ash, biological, synthetic, and waste-water samples.