Solvent extraction-spectrophotometric determination of phosphate with molybdate and malachite green in river water and sea-water

Molybdophosphate, formed between orthophosphate and molybdate in sulphuric acid solution, is extracted into a mixture of toluene and 4-methylpentan-2-one (1:3 v v ) with Malachite Green as counter-ion. A single extraction with equal phase volumes gives an apparent molar absorptivity for phosphate of 2.3 x 10(5) l.mole(-1).cm(-1) at 630 nm; the absorbance of the reagent blank is 0.03. With an organic to aqueous phase-volume ratio of 1:10, the molar absorptivity is 2.5 x 10(5) l.mole(-1).cm(-1) and the absorbance of the reagent blank 0.08. By the proposed method, ng ml levels of phosphorus can be determined, and the detection limit is about 0.1 ng ml . The standard deviation and relative standard deviation for the determination of phosphorus in tap water (4.3 ng ml ) are 0.05 ng ml and 1.1%, respectively. The method can also be applied to the determination of phosphorus in river water and sea-water.