Aqueous two-phase systems: a new approach for the determination of p-aminophenol

Abstract

A new method has been developed for the spectrophotometric determination of p-aminophenol (PAP) in water, paracetamol formulations and human urine samples with a recovery rate between 94.9 and 101%. This method exploits an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) liquid–liquid extraction technique with the reaction of PAP, sodium nitroprusside and hydroxylamine hydrochloride in pH 12.0, which produces the [Fe2(CN)10]^10− anion complex that spontaneously concentrates in the top phase of the ATPS (). The ATPS does not require an organic solvent, which is a safer and cleaner liquid–liquid extraction technique for the determination of PAP. The linear range of detection was from 5.00 to 500 μg kg^−1 (R ≥ 0.9990; n = 8) with a coefficient of variation of 2.11% (n = 5). The method exhibited a detection limit of 2.40 μg kg^−1 and a quantification limit of 8.00 μg kg^−1. The ATPS method showed a recovery that ranged between 96.4 and 103% for the determination of PAP in natural water and wastewater samples, which was in excellent agreement with the results of the standard 4-aminoantipyrine method that was performed on the same samples.