Ethylisobutrazine hydrochloride as a selective and sensitive reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of vanadium(V) and its application to vanadium-bearing minerals and alloys

Ethylisobutrazine hydrochloride is proposed as a selective and sensitive reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of vanadium(V). It forms a red-colored species with vanadium(V) in 3.5-6.5 M phosphoric acid medium. An eight-fold molar excess of reagent is necessary for the full development of the color. The red species exhibits an absorption maximum at 518 nm with a molar absorptivity of 9.75 � 103 liters mol-1 cm-1. Sandell's sensitivity is 5.2 ng cm-2. Beer's law is obeyed over the range 0.1-6.2 ppm of vanadium(V) with an optimum concentration range of 0.4-6.0 ppm. The effects of acidity, time, temperature, order of addition of reagents, reagent concentration, and the interferences from various ions, are reported. The method has been used successfully for the determination of vanadium in ilmenite and vanadium steels that contain chromium, molybdenum, manganese, nickel, copper, tungsten, and titanium. © 1985