Extractive spectrophotometric determination of nitrite in polluted waters

Nitrite is diazotised with p-nitroaniline in hydrochloric acid and coupled with 8-quinolinol in alkaline medium to give a purple azo dye (λ_max = 550 nm, ? = 3.88 × 10⁴ l mol^-1 cm^-1). Extraction of the dye into 3-methyl-1-butanol shifts the absorption maximum to 570 nm and improves the apparent molar absorptivity to 5.852 × 10⁴ l mol^-1 cm^-1. Beer's law is obeyed for 0.01–0.06 ppm nitrite. The Sandell sensitivity is 0.00078 μg cm^-2. The method is applicable to polluted waters.