Preparation of decarboxylic-functionalized weak cation exchanger and application for simultaneous separation of alkali, alkaline earth and transition metals.

A novel weak cation exchanger (WCX) with dicarboxyl groups functionalized has been developed by clicking mercaptosuccinic acid onto silica gel. The simple synthesis starts with modification of silica gel with triethoxyvinylsilane, followed by efficient coupling vinyl-bonded silica with mercaptosuccinic acid via a "thiol-ene" click reaction. The obtained WCX demonstrated good separation and high selectivity towards common metals.

Heat-shrink tubing as a solid-phase microextraction coating for the enrichment and determination of phthalic acid esters.

Heat-shrink tubing, which shrinks in one plane only (its diameter) when heated, commonly used for sealing protection in electrical engineering, was found to be able to function as a solid-phase microextraction coating. Its utility was demonstrated for the determination of phthalic acid esters in an aqueous solution combined with high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with a UV absorbance detector. The preparation procedure was rather simple and only ∼10 min was needed.