Separation of traces and large amounts of lead from gram amounts of bismuth, tin, cadmium, and indium by cation exchange chromatography in hydrochloric acid-methanol using a macroporous resin

Abstract

Traces and small amounts of lead can be separated from gram amounts of Bi, Sn, Cd, and In by eluting these elements with 0.5 M HCl in 50% methanol from a column containing only 2.7 mL (1g) of Bio-Rad AG MP-50 macroporous cation exchange resin of 100-200 mesh particle size in the H form. A 5.4 mL (2 g) resin column separates up to 100 mg of lead. Lead can be eluted effectively with 3.0 M aqueous HCl. Separations are sharp and quantitative. In combination with flame atomic absorption spectrometry, the method has been applied for the determination of lead in pure metals or chemicals of the above elements. Relative standard deviations were better than 1% for samples containing 10 ppm of lead or more. The sensitivity is less than 0.1 ppm. Relevant elution curves and results of analyses of binary synthetic mixtures and actual samples are presented. 7 references, 4 figures, 2 tables.