Abstract
Chromatography of eighteen metal cations has been performed on silica gel layers with micellar mobile phases containing nonionic surfactants (Brij-35 and TX-100). The mobility of metal ions was examined under variable experimental conditions of surfactant concentration, mobile phase pH and silica gel layer impregnants (urea and thiourea). The TLC system comprising of aqueous solution of TX-100 (10(-4) M, pH = 0.8) as mobile phase and 0.1 M thiourea impregnated silica gel layer as stationary phase was identified as the most suitable for the separation of coexisting Cr6+, Mn2+ and Fe3+. The interference of several cationic, anionic and molecular impurities on separation of Cr6+, Mn2+ and Fe3+, was also examined. The lower limit of detection of these metal cations was determined. The proposed method has been used for identification and separation of Cr6+, Mn2+ and Fe3+ from synthetically prepared alloys.