Abstract
Mercury(II) ion accelerates the complex formation reaction of manganese(II) with α, β, γ δ-tetraphenylporohinesulfonate (TPPS). Mercury(II) concentrations as low as 10−8 mol dm−3 can be determined from the decrease in absorbance at 413 nm (Λmax of TPPS) at a fixed time after the initiation of the reaction of rnanganese(II) with TPPS. Sandell's sensitivity calculated from the calibration curve at 30 min after the start of the reaction is 3.8 × 10−2 ng cm−2. After the separation of metallic mercury by distillation at room temperature, the method is highly selective and is free from interference of most substances usually encountered.