Determination of Gold(III) by Simplified Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid Extraction with Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

A new simplified extraction of gold(III) using a room-temperature ionic liquid prior to determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry has been developed. The extraction method uses 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate without a chelating agent. The parameters of the extraction system were investigated in detail. Under the optimized conditions, a linear range of 0.19 to 38.20 µg · mL−1, a limit of detection of 0.072 µg · mL−1, an enrichment factor of 10.0, and an extraction capacity of 6.6 mg · g−1 were obtained. The extraction mechanism and the selectivity of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate for gold(III) were also investigated. The method was applied for the determination of gold(III) in water samples with satisfactory results.