Separation and simplified determination of copper, iron, nickel and cobalt with thin-layer chromatography with 8-quinolinol

Abstract

Mixed nitrates of copper, iron, nickel and cobalt was separated on a 0.2 mm thin-layer of silica gel mixed with oxine as a precipitant of metals prepared by the conventional TLC techniques, and their amounts were roughly determined from their band width. The optimum content of oxine in silica gel for each element varied from 2.8 to 14%, in the increasing order for Cu²⁺, Fe³⁺, Ni²⁺ and Co²⁺. Qualitative separation of the four ions were most preferably done with the least dose of oxine.