Issue 1, 2015

Tetrahydrofuran (THF)-assisted alkaline extraction to determine hexavalent chromium (Cr(vi)) in retardant polymers containing Sb(iii)

Abstract

Low recovery of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) in polymers due to the reduction to Cr(III) by Sb(III) has been a big issue for the implementation of the Regulation of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive. In this work, we have developed a THF (tetrahydrofuran)-assisted alkaline extraction method to improve the extraction efficiency of Cr(VI) in the presence of Sb(III) by suppressing the reduction through the formation of an Sb(III)–THF adduct. The adduct formed was identified as Sb2O5Cl5(THF)3 using various analytical techniques, such as XRD, NMR, and MALDI-TOF-MS, and by molecular simulation through the calculation of ground state energy. The efficiency of the developed method was demonstrated by the analysis of in-house manufactured reference polymers containing Sb(III). The recovery was obtained in the range of 48.9–77.5%, which was about 19.6–31.0 times more efficient than the current RoHS method. Furthermore, when the THF solvent was mixed with 2-propanol (isopropyl alcohol, IPA) or 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), the recovery was significantly improved to over 95.2%, whereas a mixture with EDTA and NMP had a recovery of <20.0%.

Graphical abstract: Tetrahydrofuran (THF)-assisted alkaline extraction to determine hexavalent chromium (Cr(vi)) in retardant polymers containing Sb(iii)

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
10 Jūl. 2014
Accepted
04 Sept. 2014
First published
04 Sept. 2014

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2015,30, 225-231

Author version available

Tetrahydrofuran (THF)-assisted alkaline extraction to determine hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) in retardant polymers containing Sb(III)

Y. S. Kim, Y. R. Choi, J. S. Kim, J. H. Ko, T. J. Park, S. B. Heo and H. B. Lim, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2015, 30, 225 DOI: 10.1039/C4JA00226A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements