Extraction and Determination of Copper(II) in Seafood Using an Acetone-(NH4)2SO4 Aqueous Two-Phase System

An aqueous two-phase system of acetone and (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 mixture has been developed for the extractive separation of copper (Cu). The complex formed by Cu(II) and Nuclear Fast Red was found to be extracted into the acetone-rich upper phase, and the absorbance of the complex was determined at 465 nm. Beer’s law was obeyed over the concentration range of ~0.6–3.2 mg/l for Cu(II) with a good linearity. The proposed method has been applied to the separation and determination of Cu(II) in seafood samples with a coefficient of variation less than 2.8%. The recovery obtained was ~96.3–101.7%.