Girard-P derivative of 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde as analytical reagent. Spectrophotometric determination of copper

The synthesis, characteristics, properties, and reactions with metallic ions of pycolinaldehyde derivatives of Girard-P reagent have been studied. The reagents form complexes with Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Hg(II) and (I), Zn(II), Cd(II), and Fe(III), and (II), which exhibit a good sensibility but whose spectra have the absorption maxima located in the ultraviolet zone. The spectrum of copper complex in the presence of ascorbic acid shows another absorption band at the visible region and this makes the spectrophotometric determination of copper very selective. The influence of the different experimental parameters on the formation of copper complex without ascorbic acid and with this compound was studied, and the optimum conditions for the determination of copper were established. The precision of the procedure, expressed in terms of relative standard deviation, was 1.1%. The method has been tested on “white metal E-8” samples.