Preparation of a new polymeric ionic liquid-based sorbent for stir cake sorptive extraction of trace antimony in environmental water samples.

In this work, a new polymeric ionic liquid (PIL)-based sorbent was prepared by in-situ polymerization of 3-(1-ethyl imidazolium-3-yl) propyl-methacrylamido bromide and ethylene dimethacrylate and was used as medium for stir cake sorptive extraction (SCSE) of trace antimony in environmental water samples. The sorbent EPBED was characterized with infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy and mercury intrusion porosimetry. A method for determination of trace antimony in water samples was developed based on the combination of SCSE/EPBED and hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS). Under the optimal extraction conditions, the linear dynamic range of developed method was found to be 0.20-100.0μg/L with good coefficients of correlation (R2 =0.9904) and LOD value as low as 0.084μg/L. The method showed good reproducibility of results in terms of intra- and inter-day precisions with corresponding relative standard deviations (RSDs) of less than 9%. Recoveries obtained for the determination of antimony in spiked samples ranged from 80.4% to 107% with RSDs below 10% in all cases.