A rapid method for spectrophotometric determination of molybdenum in alloy steels

Summary A Rapid Method for Spectrophotometric Determination of Molybdenum in Alloy Steels Molybdenum (VI) forms an orange-red coloured mixed-ligand complex with perazine dimalonate and thiocyanate at room temperature (27°) in hydrochloric acid. The complex is soluble in ethanol. It exhibits absorption maximum at 460 nm. Beer's law is valid over the molybdenum concentration range 0.1–14.0,g/ml. Sandell's sensitivity of the reaction is 0.9·10^–3 g Mo/cm² and the molar extinction coefficient is 1.06·10⁴ 1·mol^–1·cm^–1 at 460 nm. The stoichiometry of the complex is (Perazine·H) MoO(SCN)₄] as shown by Job's method, equilibrium shift method and elemental analyses of the isolated complex. The proposed method has been used for the determination of molybdenum in ores, alloy steels and in synthetic mixtures containing chromium, tungsten, iron, cobalt, nickel and copper.Presented at the 36th Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, New Orleans, February 25-March 1, 1985.