Spectrophotometric determination of mercury(II) and silver(I) with copper(II) and diethyldithiocarbamate in the presence of triton X-100

Procedures for the determination of mercury and silver by displacement of diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) from its copper complex in the presence of 1% Triton X-100, and measurement of the decrease in the Cu(DDTC)(2) absorbance, are described. The use of the surfactant avoids the need for an extraction step. Reproducibility within 1% and detection limits of 0.25 ppm Hg(II) and 0.45 ppm Ag(I) have been obtained, and linear calibration ranges up to 13 ppm Hg(II) and 15 ppm Ag(I). In the presence of 0.1M EDTA very good selectivity is achieved.