Studies on the separation of osmium by flotation and spectrophotometric determination with Crystal Violet and Malachite Green

A solvent flotation technique was used for the separation of osmium from aqueous solutions in the form of the ion associates of the anionic complexes OsCl^2?₆ and OsCl₂(SnCl₃)^2?₂ with two basic dyes, Crystal Violet and Malachite Green. A sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of osmium based on the system osmium-tin(II) chloride—Crystal Violet—cyclohexane (?=2 × 10⁵ l mol^?1 cm^?1) was developed. Aqueous acetone solutions of the ion associate examined obey Beer's law in the range 0.04–1.0 μg Os ml^?1. The relative standard deviation is 1–6%. Ruthenium interferes with the determination of osmium.