Determination of nitrite in environmental waters by flow injection catalytic spectrophotometry

ABSTRACT

The flow injection catalytic spectrophotometry is proposed for the determination of nitrite based on the catalytic effect on the redox reaction between methylene blue and potassium bromate in acidic medium. The reaction is monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in the absorbance of methylene blue at the maximum absorption wavelength of 664 nm. The method is characterised by low solvent consumption and easy automatic continuous analysis. It has higher sensitivity and lower detection limit. Experimental analysis conditions of the flow injection-catalytic photometry are optimised, and the best analysis conditions are: the concentration of the potassium bromate is 0.068 mol L^?1; the concentration of the phosphoric acid in oxidation liquid is 0.045 mol L^?1; the concentration of the methylene blue in colour-substrate solution is 2.4 mg L^?1, the volume of sample ring is 200 μL; the reaction coil is around 7 m in length; the inject time is 50 s and analysis time is 70 s. Under the optimal conditions, the linear range is from 10 to 500 μg L^?1 and the detection limit is 1 μg L^?1. The nitrate standard solution is continuously determined with a mass concentration of 300 μg L^?1. The RSD is determined to be 1.41% (n = 10). The nitrite in water samples, which were from the Half Acre pond, the Ink River and the Small West lake in a campus, was determined respectively by this method. A satisfactory standard addition recovery of 96.7%–103.9% was obtained.