Chromium(III) selective membrane sensors based on Schiff bases as chelating ionophores.

The two chromium chelates of Schiff bases, N-(acetoacetanilide)-1,2-diaminoethane (L(1)) and N,N'-bis(acetoacetanilide)-triethylenetetraammine (L(2)), have been synthesized and explored as neutral ionophores for preparing poly(vinylchloride) (PVC) based membrane sensors selective to Cr(III). The addition of lipophilic anion excluder (NaTPB) and various plasticizers viz. o-Nitrophenyloctyl ether (o-NPOE), dioctylpthalate (DOP), dibutylphthalate (DBP), tris(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate (TEHP), and benzyl acetate (BA) have found to improve the performance of the sensors. The best performance was obtained for the membrane sensor having a composition of L(1):PVC:DBP:NaTPB in the ratio 5:150:250:3 (w/w). The sensor exhibits Nernstian response in the concentration range 8.9 x 10(-8) to 1.0 x 10(-1) M Cr(3+) with limit of detection 5.6 x 10(-8) M. The proposed sensor manifest advantages of relatively fast response (10s) and good selectivity over some alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions. The selectivity behavior of the proposed electrode revealed a considerable improvement as compared to the best previously PVC-membrane electrode for chromium(III) ion. The potentiometric response of the proposed sensor was independent of pH of the test solution in the range of 2.0-7.0. The sensor has found to work satisfactorily in partially non-aqueous media up to 20% (v/v) content of methanol, ethanol and acetonitrile and could be used for a period of 3 months. The proposed electrode was used as an indicator electrode in potentiometric titration of chromium ion with EDTA and in direct determination in different water and food samples.