Utility of solid phase extraction for colorimetric determination of lead in waters, vegetables, biological and soil samples

A highly sensitive, selective and rapid method for the determination of lead based on the reaction of lead (II) with 5-(4'-chlorophenylazo)-6-hydroxypyrimidine-2,4-dione (CPAHPD) and the solid phase extraction of the Pb(II)-CPAHPD complex with Amberlite XAD-2000 was developed, in the presence of pH 5.6 buffer solution and Triton X-114 medium. CPAHPD reacts with lead to form a violet complex with a molar ratio of 2:1 (CPAHPD to lead). This complex was enriched by the solid phase extraction with Amberlite XAD-2000. An enrichment factor of 500 was obtained by elution of the complex from the resin with a minimal amount of isopentyl alcohol(0.2 mL). In isopentyl alcohol medium,the molar absorptivity of the complex is $1.13{\times}10^6L\;mol^{-1}cm^{-1}$ at 647 nm. Beer's law is obeyed in the range of $5.0-160ng\;mL^{-1}$ in the measured solution. The relative standard deviation for 10 replicate samples of $50ng\;mL^{-1}$ level is 1.26%. The detection and quantification limits reaches 1.5 and $4.7ng\;mL^{-1}$ in the original samples. The presented procedure was successfully applied for determination of lead content in real samples such as vegetables, waters, biological and soil samples with satisfactory results.