The contents of Pb2+ in tea was determined by the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method using bis(salicylaldehyde)-o-phenylenediamine (SALOPHEN) as derivatization reagent. The detection wavelength of ultraviolet was 226 nm with Hypersil ODS2 C18 column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μ m) as stationary phase, and pH 10.0 methanol-water (80:20, v/v) as mobile phase. The linear range of Pb2+ was 0.1-30 mg/L and the linear correlation coefficient was 0.9988. The limit of detection was 0.01 mg/L with the recoveries of 91.87%-96.96%. The method has high sensitivity and stability with satisfactory results, which can be used for the detection of Pb2+ in tea samples.
Keywords: bis(salicylaldehyde)-o-phenylenediamine; heavy metal ions; high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); tea.