Abstract

The present study provides a novel, selective analysis method for the determination of low xanthate concentrations. The rising concern over the environmental effects of xanthates demands the development of analysis methods which this study answers. Complex formation in aqueous solution between xanthates and an excess of Co(II), Ni(II), Pb(II), Cd(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) ions was utilized to selectively determine xanthates by high-performance liquid chromatography–inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometry for the first time. The complexes that were formed were extracted to ethyl acetate using liquid–liquid extraction and separated by high-performance liquid chromatography technique before the quantitative determination of metal ions and sulfur in the xanthate complexes. Good separation and high measurement sensitivity were achieved using Cu(II) as the complex metal ion. The analysis method was optimized for the determination of sodium isopropyl xanthate and sodium isobutyl xanthate with detection limits of 24.7 and 13.3 μg/L, respectively. With a linear calibration range of 0.1–15 mg/L and a total analysis time of 4–5 min, the present method is a fast and sensitive option for selective xanthate determination.