Ultraviolet spectrophotometric determination of tungsten(VI) with ammonium 1-pyrrolidinecarbodithioate

A simple and rapid ultraviolet spectrophotometric method is proposed for the determination of trace amounts of tungsten(VI) with ammonium 1-pyrrolidinecarbodithioate (APDC). The method is based on measurement of the absorbance of the tungsten APDC complex in fairly concentrated hydrochloric acid medium; no extraction is required. The complex is formed at an initial acidity of 6M hydrochloric acid and has an absorption maximum at 250 nm. The high absorption of the reagent blank at 250 nm disappears on decomposition of excess of reagent by heating. Beer's law is obeyed over the range 0.43–3.2 ppm of tungsten(VI). The molar absorptivity of the complex is 4.5 × 10⁴ l.mole⁻¹ .cm⁻¹ at 250 nm. Tenfold amounts of aluminium, magnesium, calcium, cobalt, iron(II), lead, silver, sodium and titanium do not interfere in the determination of 50 μg of tungsten (VI).