Determination of trace amount of oxalic acid with zirconium(IV)-(DBS-arsenazo) by spectrophotometry

A novel method is proposed for the determination of trace amount of oxalic acid in the present article. In 1.0M hydrochloric acid medium, oxalic acid can react with the zirconium(IV) in Zr(IV)-(DBS-arsenazo) complex and replaces the DBS-arsenazo to produce a hyperchromic effect at 520 nm. The hyperchromic degree is proportional to the concentration of the oxalic acid added over a defined range. Based on this property, a new method for the spectrophotometric determination of trace oxalic acid was developed. Beer's law is held over the concentration range of 9.0 x 10(-6) to 5.0 x 10(-4)M for oxalic acid with a correlation coefficient of 0.9995. The apparent molar absorptivity of the method is epsilon520 nm = 1.16 x 10(3)L mol(-1)cm(-1) and the detection limit for oxalic acid is 0.815 microg/mL. The developed method was directly applied to the determination of oxalic acid in tomato samples with satisfactory results.