Mercury chloride (HgCl2), 1-octanol (C8H18O), potassium iodide (KI), hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4)
were purchased from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany). Hydrogen
tetrachloroaurate (III) (HAuCl4) was purchased from Acros
(Geel,Belgium). Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (DEHP) was purchased from Fluka (Buchs, Switzerland). All chemicals were
analytical grade and were used without further purification. All
the working solutions were prepared using de-ionized water
purified by Milli-Q filtration system (Millipore, USA)