Rapid spectrophotometric determination of ruthenium with diethazine hydrochloride

Diethazine hydrochloride reacts with ruthenium(III) instantaneously at high acidity (sulphuric or hydrochloric acid) to form a red 1:1 complex with absorbance maximum at 515nm. A tenfold molar excess of reagent is necessary for complete complexation. Beer's law is obeyed for 1.0-10.4 ppm of ruthenium(III), with optimum concentration range 2-9 ppm. The molar absorptivity is 5.35 x 10(3) 1.mol(-1) .cm(-1).