Determination of indium and tin by activation analysis using replacement substoichiometry

A new method for the determination of indium by activation analysis has been developed. It is based on the replacement of indium from indium dithizonate (in carbon tetrachloride) by a substoichiometric amount of aqueous mercury(II) solution. Preliminary steps are the extraction of indium from alkaline cyanide solution with an excess of dithizone solution and washing the extract with buffer solution. The time necessary for the separation is 10-20 min. With this method indium can be determined by using either short ((116m)In, t(1 2 ) = 54 min) or long-lived radioisotopes ((114m)In, t(1 2 = 50 d). As by the reaction (112)Sn (n, gamma)) (113)Sn (119d) --> (113)In (104 min), indium-113m is formed, which has a different gamma-spectrum from that of indium-114m, the determination of both indium and tin is possible. The proposed method has been applied to the determination of indium and tin in granite and gallium.