Development of a New and Facile Carrier Element-Free Coprecipitation Procedure for Separation, Preconcentration and Sensitive Determination of Cu(II) and Cd(II) Ions in Water and Vegetable Samples

A facile and sensitive method predicated on carrier element free coprecipitation (CEFC) using 2-(2-(2-(4-bromobenzyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-1-yl)acetyl)-N-ethylhydrazine-1-carbothioamide (BIMANEC) is reported for trace determination of Cu(II) and Cd(II) in vegetables and water. BIMANEC was used for the first time for the quantitative determination of these trace heavy metals. Flame atomic absorption spectrometer (FAAS) was used for quantitation. The preconcentration conditions were optimized with respect to pH (8.0), BIMANEC mass (4.0 mg), volume of sample (100 mL), standing time (5 min), and centrifugation time and rate (3 min and 2500 rpm). The influence of potentially interfering ions was scrutinized for the recovery of analyte ions. Under the optimum conditions, the limits of detection (LODs) were 0.51 and 2.28 µg L−1 for Cu(II) and Cd(II), respectively. The relative standard deviations were < 5% for both. The recoveries from the spiked vegetable samples were from 94.9 to 102.8% and from the spiked water samples between 93.2 and 101.6%. Consequently the developed new, facile, rapid, and highly efficient CEFC process was employed for the trace determination of Cu(II) and Cd(II).