Flow-injection spectrophotometric determination of trace vanadium based on catalysis of the gallic acid bromate reaction

High sensitivity is obtained by using high concentrations of gallic acid and bromate, although the uncatalyzed reaction is significant. Various reactant concentrations, reaction temperature, pH and residence times can be used to alter the linear calibration ranges and sensitivity for vanadium. With reagent streams of 1.76 M bromate and 0.06 M gallic acid at pH 3.8 (each at 1 ml min^?1), 0.2–20 ng of vanadium (20-μl injections) can be determined at 30°C. Oxidized gallic acid is detected at 380 nm. When the bromate concentration is decreased to 0.5 M and the temperature is 65°C, 0.05–4 ng of vanadium can be determined; the relative standard deviation is ca. 5% for 0.6 ng of vanadium. The toleranes for Al(III), Fe(III), Mo(VI) and iodide are 10 ng, 10 ng, 50 ng and 200 ng, respectively, for the determination of 1 ng of vanadium. About 12 samples can be injected per hour.