Simultaneous spectrofluorimetric determination of iron and manganese by a differential kinetic catalytic method

A kinetic method is presented for the simultaneous determination of iron(III) and manganese(II) based on the different reaction rates resulting from the catalytic effect of both metal ions on the oxidation of 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone by hydrogen peroxide in an ammoniacal medium. The reaction is monitored spectrofluorimetrically at 440 nm and with excitation at 365 nm. Two sets of reaction conditions are established to maximize the effect of manganese compared to iron, and vice versa, and the data are evaluated from simultaneous equations. Mixtures of these metal ions at ng ml^?1 levels for iron/manganese ratios from 8:1 to 1:2 can be determined with an accuracy and precition of about 3% and 1%, respectively. The methods has been applied successfully to the determination of both metals in aluminium and copper alloys, beer, cheeses and soils.