Preparation of a hydrogel sorbent based on agar-polyethylene glycol stabilized with iminodiacetic acid using electron irradiation method and its use for dispersive micro-solid phase extraction of Mn(II)

Abstract

An agar/polyethylene glycol hydrogel was synthesized and modified with iminodiacetic acid (IDA-agar/PEG), and its ability as a biocompatible sorbent for extraction of manganese (II) ions from different environmental and food samples was investigated. The prepared IDA-agar/PEG hydrogel was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The crucial parameters of manganese (II) extraction before its determination by flow injection flame atomic absorption spectrometry were optimized. At optimized conditions, a detection limit of 0.12 μg L−1, a limit of quantification of 0.41 μg L−1, and the relative standard deviations of 3.5 % (intra-day) and 5.5 % (inter-day) for six replicate quantifications of Mn (5.0 μg L−1) were obtained. The linearity range (LR) and preconcentration factor (PF) were determined as 0.4–50.0 µg/L and 187.5, respectively. The IDA-agar/PEG hydrogel sorbent was successfully employed for the dispersive micro-solid phase extraction (DMSPE) of Mn(II) in waters, soil, vegetables, and nuts with good recoveries (97.2–101.0 %).