Separation of zinc and copper with cyanoacetamide in the determination of zinc

The new use of cyanoacetamide as a selective masking agent for copper in the determination of microgram amounts of zinc with zincon is described. It is very possible that the unique masking action of this compound may have importance in eliminating the interference of copper in other spectrophotometric and titrimetric procedures for zinc thereby reducing the time required to complete the analysis by decreasing or eliminating laborious separation or extraction techniques. The possibility of using cyanoacetamide as a masking agent for other ions should not be overlooked.