Spectrophotometric determination of chromium(III, VI) by use of chromium(III, VI)-Chrome AzurolS-cetylpyridinium bromide-hydroxylamine hydrochloride-zinc(II) system

This paper shows that the sensitivity of the Cr(III, VI)—Chrome Azurol S (CAS)-cetylpyridinium bromide (CPB)—hydroxylamine hydrochloride system can be increased and the wavelength of maximum absorption slightly shifted by addition of zinc(II) and that the analytical data are practically identical for both Cr(III) and Cr(VI), indicating that under the conditions used both initial oxidation states of chromium yield the same final oxidation state, Cr(III). On the basis of the Cr(III, VI)—CAS—CPB—NH₂OH·HCl—Zn systems a new, highly sensitive and selective method for spectrophotometric determination of microamounts of Cr(III, VI) has been developed, with molar absorptivity of 1.27 × 10⁵ 1. mole⁻¹ . cm⁻¹ for the complex at 620 nm and linear calibration up to 0.4 μg/ml chromium. Various foreign ions do not interfere. The method can be applied to direct determination of chromium in steels.