Influence of organic additives on the colour reaction between trivalent americium and arsenazo III

The colour reaction of Am(III) with Arsenazo III in several hydroorganic media has been examined systematically on the addition of certain polar water-miscible organic solvents in the course of a search for improved and simple spectrophotometric methods for the estimation of americium. Addition of these substances resulted in the stabilization of colour and brought about a drastic enhancement in the absorbance values. The organic additives studied include acetone, acetonitrile, dimethylformamide, dioxane and ethanol. Among the many solvents tested, alcohol and dioxane proved to be the most effective; highest sensitivity is obtained by using a 60% dioxane-ethanol (11) mixture. The apparent molar absorptivity based on Am content is 184616±9931 mol^–1 cm^–1 at 655 nm which is about 3 times that attained for the reaction in aqueous medium (65178±1243). Strikingly, this is the highest value reported as yet for its determination. Beer's law is obeyed both in mixed as well as aqueous media. The effects of some experimental variables on colour development have also been studied to optimize the conditions for the assay of Am.