Kinetic spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of nitrite by its reaction with molybdosilicic acid blue

A new kinetic spectrophotometric method was developed to determine nitrite using molybdosilicic acid blue (MSAB) as a color reagent. This method is simple, rapid, sensitive and selective for the determination of trace amounts of nitrite ion. The reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in absorbance of the reaction mixture at lambda(max) = 810 nm. The fixed time method was used. The limit of detection was 0.004 ppm. The relative standard deviations for the determination of 0.06 and 0.30 ppm of nitrite were 3.0% (n = 6) and 1.3% (n = 10), respectively. Two linear calibration graphs were observed (0.02-0.1 and 0.1-1.0 ppm). The method was applied to the determination of nitrite in well and waste waters. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.