Sequential Spectrophotometric Determination of Microgram Amounts of Nitrate and Nitrite in Mixtures

This paper describes three new methods: the first may be used for the determination of nitrite; the second is applicable to determination of nitrate; and the third permits sequential determination of both nitrite and nitrate in mixtures with no prior separation. For the determination of nitrite and nitrate in synthetic mixtures containing 1:5 to 5:1 ratios of the ions, in tap water, and in river water, mean recoveries (for 3 to 22 μg of added NO⁻₃and NO⁻₂) are 96.1 and 98.1% (n= 15) and coefficients of variation are 2.2 and 2.5% for NO⁻₃and NO⁻₂(n= 5), respectively.