Seventeen new 14- and 15-crown-formazans: their synthesis and evaluation in spectrophotometric determination of lithium

A number of new crown-formazans with 14 and 15 membered rings have been synthesized, characterized and investigated as selective spectrophotometric chelating agents for lithium. The effect of sodium ion concentration on the background lithium signal was studied. A comparative study for the sensitivity of these new crown-formazans in spectrophotometric determinations was studied and compared with those reported previously. The three new 14- and 15-crown-formazans 4a-c containing the pyridyl N-oxide at the formazyl carbon showed the highest selectivity to lithium determination in the presence of sodium ion.