Spectrophotometric determination of scandium with arsenazo

Arsenazo is used for the spectrophotometric determination of scandium in the range 10 to 50 μg. The absorbance is measured at 570 mμ and pH 6.1. A method is proposed for the successive determination of scandium and thorium. Scandium is separated from magnesium, calcium, rare earths, zirconium, fluoride, phosphate, and some other metals by extraction with TTA in xylene. Copper, aluminum, and iron(III) are removed by 8-quinolinol-chloroform extraction. Uranium(VI) is removed by anion exchange using hydrochloric acid. Thorium is separated from scandium by anion exchange using nitric acid.