Atomic absorption spectrometric determination of ultra trace amounts of zinc after preconcentration with the ion pair of 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-diethylaminophenol and ammonium tetraphenylborate on microcrystalline naphthalene or by column method

Zinc is quantitatively retained on 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-diethylamminophenol (5-BrPADAP)-ammonium tetraphenylborate with microcrystalline naphthalene or by a column method in the pH range 7.5-9.0 from a large volume of aqueous solutions of various samples. After filtration, the solid mass consisting of the zinc complex and naphthalene was dissolved with 5 ml of dimethylflarmamide and the metal was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Zinc complex can alternatively be quantitatively adsorbed on ammonium tetrphenylborate-naphthalene adsorbent packed in a column and determined similarly. The calibration curve is linear 0.05-4.0 ppb in dimethylformamide solution. Eight replicate detenninations of 1.0 ppb of zinc gave a mean absorbance of 0.124 with a relative standard deviation of 1.3%. The sensitivity for 1% absorption was 0.035 ppb. The interference of a large number of anions and cations has been studied and the optimized conditions developed were utilized for the trace determination of zinc in Various standard samples. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.