Abstract
A method is presented for the highly sensitive, selective, and rapid determination of vanadium (V) at sub-microgram levels in rocks, animal tissues, plant tissues and natural waters. The method is based on the selective extraction of vanadium (V) from strongly acidic (3-8 M hydrochloric acid) medium with solution of N-p-methoxyphenyl-2-furylacrylohydroxamic acid (MFHA) in chloroform. The reddish-violet extract (molar absorbance 8.6x103 1 mole−1 cm−1 at λ max 545 nm) is then equilibrated with 3-(o-carboxyphenyl)-1-phenyltriazine-N-oxide (CPPTNO) at pH = 1.5. The resulting ternary complex has enhanced colour (molar absorbance 1.4 × 104 1 mole−1 cm−1 at Λ max 450 nm). The ternary system obeys Beer's Law at 450 nm over the range 0-18 μ g/ml of vanadium. The extraction system achieves 20-fold enrichment of vanadium and enables the determination of the metal down to parts per billion (ng 1−1) levels. The method tolerates the presence of a large number of anions and cations which are normally present with vanadium in rocks, plant tissues, animal tissues and natural waters. The applicability of the method was tested by the analysis of vanadium in these matrices. MFHA was selected from nine hydroxamic acids as it provided maximum sensitivity and selectivity.