Catalytic determination of trace amounts of vanadium by means of the chromotropic acid-bromate reaction

A catalytic reaction-rate method is described for the determination of trace amounts of vanadium; the method is based on the vanadium-catalysed oxidation of chromotropic acid by bromate. The reaction was followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the rate of change in absorbance of chromotropic acid at 430 nm. The method is sensitive, rapid and simple, and allows determination of as little as 5 ng of vanadium. Of the many ions examined, iron(III), copper and tungsten(VI) interfered seriously at 100-fold concentrations. The relative standard deviation for 20 ng of vanadium (10 determinations) was 2.5%.