Abstract

A simple, rapid and sensitive solvent assisted-dispersive solid phase extraction method was developed for the extraction of iron(II) prior to its spectrophotometric determination. The Fe(II) reacted with 2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine, neutralized with sodium dodecyl sulfate and extracted onto the fine particles of benzophenone which were formed upon rapid injection of a mixture of benzophenone as the sorbent and ethanol as the disperser solvent into the aqueous solution. After phase separation, the sedimented phase containing the complex was dissolved in ethanol and the analyte concentration was determined by measuring its absorption at 594 nm. Total iron was determined after the reduction of Fe(III) to Fe(II) with hydroxylamine hydrochloride. Under the optimized conditions, an enhancement factor of 32, the detection limit of 0.16 μg l-1, and the relative standard deviation of 1.9 (n = 6) at 20 μg l-1 concentration level of Fe(II) were achieved. The method was successfully applied to the determination of iron species in water samples and total iron in infant dry formula milk, apple, rice, spinach and parsley samples.