Extraction-polarographic determination of cobalt(II) and nickel(II) as 2,2′-bipyridine complexes in acetonitrile

The tris(2,2′-bipyridine)cobalt(II) complex gives a reversible d.c. wave with E$\text{1}\text{2}$ = ?1.02 V vs. SCE and a sharp differential pulse peak at E_p = ?1.03 V in a salted-out acetonitrile phase. A simple selective method is described for the determination of cobalt(II); down to 0.25 μg of cobalt(II) can be determined in presence of large amounts of Ni, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Cu; iron(III) can be masked with sodium fluoride. The method is applicable to the determination of >0.0l% cobalt in nickel salts and >5 × 10^?5% cobalt in iron salts. Nickel(II) can also be extracted from aqueous solution and determined by differential pulse polarography, even in presence of a 20-fold amount of cobalt(II) by masking with EDTA; >0.01% of nickel in cobalt salts can be determined reproducibly.