Catalytic kinetic determination of ultratrace amounts of ruthenium(III) based on the oxidation of hematoxylin by hydrogen peroxide

A new catalytic method was described for the determination of ruthenium(III) based on its catalytic effect on the oxidation of hematoxylin by hydrogen peroxide in weakly acidic medium. The reaction was followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the absorbance of hematoxylin at 440 nm. Under the optimum conditions, ruthenium(III) can be determined in the range 5–120 ng/ml with a relative standard deviation of 1.1%. The mean value of reaction rate constant was 0.012±0.04 min^–1 and the activation energy was 10.45 kJ/mol. The method was tested for the determination of ruthenium(III) in some synthetic mixtures.