Determination of V(V), Nb(V), and Ta(V) with 2-(2-Thiazolylazo)-5-diethylaminophenol by Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography

The simultaneous determination of vanadium, niobium, and tantalum by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with 2-(2-thiazolylazo)-5-diethylaminophenol (TADAP) as the precolumn chelating reagent has been established. Optimum conditions for the separation, such as the methanol content, the addition of tartaric acid, pH, and the concentration of acetate buffer, were investigated. The metal chelates were eluted in 8 min with a mobile phase of methanol–water (55/45, v/v) containing tartaric acid (0.1%, m/v) and acetate buffer (pH 3.5, 10 mmol/liter) on an ODS column at 568 nm. The detection limits (signal-to-noise RATIO = 3) for V(V), Nb(V), and Ta(V) were 0.16, 0.32, and 1.77 ng/ml, respectively. The proposed method was applied to the analyses of a reference of mineral and synthetic samples. The result was in accord with the certified value, and the recoveries were 98.9–101.8%.