A novel isotachophoresis of cobalt and copper complexes by metal ion substitution reaction in a continuous moving chelation boundary.

A novel separation mode of isotachophoresis (ITP) was advanced for the study on the continuous moving chelation boundary (MCB) formed with EDTA and two metal ions of Co(II) and Cu(II). The experiments were performed systemically. The relevant results indicated that: (1) there were three boundaries in the whole system, viz., a sharp MCB, a wide moving substitution boundary (MSB) and a sharp complex boundary (CB); (2) within the MSB, an ion substitution reaction occurred between [Co-EDTA](2-) and Cu(II), and the reaction resulted in the release of Co(II) and EDTA from [Co-EDTA](2-) and the binding of Cu(II) with the released EDTA due to log K(Cu(II)) (= 18.80) > log K(Co(II)) (= 16.31); (3) because of the novel ITP mode induced by the MSB as well as the merging of the MCB and CB, the original low concentration Co(II) and Cu(II) were chemically separated as two characteristic coloured zones of pink [Co-EDTA](2-) and blue [Cu-EDTA](2-), and the sensitivities for detection of the two metal ions were greatly enhanced. The quantitative analyses of the zone composition by ICP-AES and UV-vis spectrophotometry supported the mechanism of the novel separation mode induced by the MSB. The further theoretical and experimental results indicated that the separation mode was a novel ITP relied on moving reaction boundary (MRB), rather than a classic ITP based on the moving boundary system developed about 60 years ago. These findings provide guidance for the development of the MRB and the MCB-based ITP separation of metal ions in environmental and biological matrices.