Spectrophotometric determination of uranium in sea water with thiocyanate and rhodamine B

Summary Spectrophotometric Determination of Uranium in Sea-Water with Thiocyanate and Rhodamine B In the presence of a large excess of thiocyanate uranium(VI) forms a violet colour with Rhodamine B. The complex can be stabilized by addition of poly (vinyl alcohol). The calibration graph for measurement at 600 nm is linear in the range 0.5–10g of uranium per 25ml, the molar absorptivity being 3.56×10⁵1-mole^–1·cm^–1. The effect of foreign ions has been studied and the method can be applied to the determination of uranium in sea-water, with reliable results. Uranium is preconcentrated from sea-water by a flotation procedure with toluene in presence of benzoate and Safranine T, with nitrilotriacetic acid as masking agent. The method is highly selective for uranium, with a recovery of 97.9–99.2%.