Extraction-spectrophotometric determination of trace iron (II) in sea water with 2-[2-(3,5-dibromopyridyl)azo]-5-diethylaminobenzoic acid

An extraction-spectrophotometric method is described for the determination of traces of iron(II) with 2-2-(3,5-dibromopyridyl)azo]-5-diethyl-aminobenzoic acid. The reagent forms a stable and blue 12 iron/reagent complex that can be extracted into chloroform. The apparent molar absorptivity of the iron(II) complex is 1.09 × 10⁵ 1 mol^–1 cm^–1 at 624 nm in chloroform. The reagent is relatively selective; interferences from cobalt, copper, nickel and vanadium can be removed by using dimethylglyoxime and EDTA. The method is applied to the determination of iron (II) in sea water and aluminium alloys with good precision and accuracy.