Spectrophotometric determination of cobalt with phenanthrenequinone monoxime

Phenanthrenequinone monoxime reacts with cobalt to form a yellow-orange insoluble 1:3 (cobalt:ligand) complex which is extractable into chloroform in the pH range 4.45-8.0. The determination of cobalt is carried out at 470 mmu. Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration range 0-3.0 ppm of cobalt. The sensitivity is 0-00336 mug of Co/cm(2) for 0.001 absorbance. The effect of a number of foreign ions has been studied.