Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric Determination of Copper (I) after Adsorption of its 4′-(p-Methoxyphenyl)-2, 2′:6′, 2″-Terpyridine Tetraphenylborate Ion-Associated Complex on Microcrystalline Naphthalene

A new atomic absorption spectrophotometric method has been developed for the trace determination of copper after adsorption of its 4′-(p-methoxyphenyl)-2, 2′:6′,2″-terpyridine tetraphenylborate ion-associated complex on microcrystalline naphthalene. This complex is adsorbed on microcrystalline naphthalene in the pH range 0.5-11.0 by shaking for a few seconds. The solid mass so formed is separated by filtration, dissolved in dimethylformamide and the absorbance is measured at 324.7 nm. Beer's law is obeyed in the concentration range 5.0-60.0 μg of copper in 10 ml of the final dimethylformamide solution. The replicate determinations of a sample containing 30 μg of copper gave a mean absorbance of 0.171 with a standard deviation of 0.0019 and a relative standard deviation of 1.11%. The method has been applied to the determination of copper in certain standard reference materials.