Separation for trace amounts of gold (III) ion using ion-pair dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry determination

A simple ion-pair dispersive liquidliquid microextraction method for preconcentration of trace amounts of gold in aqueous samples is proposed, where an ion pair of and benzyldimethyltetradecyl-ammonium is extracted into the extractive solvent CCL4 using the dispersive solvent ETOH. The volume and the type of the extractive and dispersive solvents, the extraction time and the pH of the aqueous solution are investigated. The calibration curve is found to be linear in the range of 1.0 to 250.0?ng?mL-1, the limit of detection is 0.1?ng?mL-1 (3Sbl/m, n?=?7) and the enrichment factor is 28. The relative standard deviation for 10 replicate determinations at the 20.0?ng?mL-?1 gold level is obtained as 2.1%. As an application, this method was successfully used to the extraction and determination of gold in standard, real and spiked samples.