Syntheses and spectrophotometric studies of 2-(2-thiazolylazo)- and 2-(2-benzothiazolylazo)-5-dimethylaminobenzoic acids as analytical reagents: Determination of nickel

2-(2-ThiazolyIazo)-5-dimethylaminobenzoic acid (TAMB) and 2-(2-benzothiazolylazo)-5-dimethylaminobenzoic acid (BTAMB) have been synthesized, and their potential for determinations of metals has been studied spectrophotometrically. Both are extremely sensitive chromogenic reagents for the determination of nickel. Molar absorptivities in aqueous methanol are 0.95 × 10⁵ (TAMB) and 1.2 × 10⁵ (BTAMB). In aqueous methanol, at apparent pH 5–9.5, the system conforms to Beer's law for 0.05–0.5 ppm nickel; Cu, Cr, Co, Pd and Fe interfere, but they can easily be masked.