Selective extraction and photometric determination of trace vanadium with cinnamohydroxamic acid in MIBK and its application to steel and rock ore analysis

A sensitive and selective photometric method for the trace determination of vanadium with cinnamohydroxamic acid extracted from 1.8 M HCl in methyl isobutyl ketone is described. The wine-red chelate formed under an optimum acidity of 1.3-2.6 M HCl absorbs with a maximum at 525 nm. Beer's law is obeyed in the range 0-8 ppm of vanadium(V) and the optimum range of determination of vanadium is found to be 1-8 ppm. The molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity are 6.0 x 10(3) l mol(-1) cm(-1) and 0.0086 mug cm(-2) of vanadium(V) at 525 nm. The photometric determination of trace amounts of vanadium in materials such as alloys, minerals and rock ores is also reported. The solvent extraction methods are simple, rapid and highly selective with fluoride used as a masking agent for Fe and Ti. The standard deviations are minimal and the mean error is only 0.015%.