Spectrophotometric determination of palladium(II) based on its catalytic effect on the reduction of azure I by sodium hypophosphite

A catalytic-spectrophotometric method for the determination of traces of palladium(II) is proposed. The reaction is based on the catalytic action of palladium(II) on the reduction of azure I (λ_max = 647 nm) by sodium hypophosphite. The various variables affecting the sensitivity were studied, and a study of interfering ions was also carried out. The reaction gave a detection limit of 4.3 ng/mL palladium(II) and good reproducibility with a relative standard deviation of 1.53–1.98% in the palladium(II) concentration range 40–200 ng/mL. The method yielded another linear range (5–40 ng/mL) when using slightly different conditions. In this case, the detection limit was 0.78 ng/mL palladium(II), and the relative standard deviation for ten replicate analyses of 20 ng/mL palladium(II) was 2.05%. The method was applied to the determination of palladium in a sample of activated charcoal. The text was submitted by the authors in English.