Flow-injection spectrophotometric determination of cobalt by extraction as tetrathiocyanatocobaltate(II) with the ethylenebis(triphenylphosphoniu) cation

Cobalt (0–10 μg) may be determined spectrophotometrically at 625 nm after flow-injection extraction into chloroform of the ion associate ethylenebis(triphenylphosphonium) tetrathiocyanatocobaltate(II). The carrier stream contained 10% (w/v) ammonium fluoride and the reagent stream contained 0.5% (w/v) ethylenebis (triphenylphosphonium) bromide and 5% (w/v) ammonium thiocyanate. The injection rate was 20 h^?1. The calibration graph is linear up to 20 μg ml^?1 and detection limit is 0.23 μg ml^?1 cobalt, based on injection volumes of 500 μl. The system has been applied to the determination of cobalt in a range of tool steels.