Fast spectrophotometric determination of titanium in rocks with 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid

Abstract

A fast Spectrophotometric method has been developed for titanium determination in geological matrices, based on the mixture of the sample solution with an exact volume of a single chromogenic solution containing acetate buffer, ascorbic acid and 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid DHB, which forms with titanium(IV) ions a yellow complex with absorption maximum at 380 nm. The following parameters were studied: complex stability, pH effect, amount of DHB, amount of acetate buffer, obedience to Beer's law, amount of ascorbic acid and iron masking. The results demonstrated that titanium can be determined in the pH range 4.0–5.0, with a molar absorptivity of 1.43 × 10⁴ 1·mol⁻¹ cm⁻¹ and a limit of detection of 2.3 ng/ml. The methodology that allows analysis of 30 samples per hour. Common anions and cations do not interfere, even when present in large amounts. Iron(III) interference can be easily eliminated by reduction to iron(II) using ascorbic acid. Analytical characteristics of the proposed procedure, such as calibration sensitivity, analytical sensitivity, limit of detection and coefficient of variation, were determined. The procedure was applied for titanium determination in various standard geological matrices, with results of satisfactory accuracy and precision (RSD<1%).