Spectrophotometric Determination of Nitrite Ion with Pyrogallol Red-Molybdenum(VI) Complex

Abstract

A spectrophotometric method for the determination of nitrite ion was established based on a fading of the pyrogallol red-molybdenum(VI) complex in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate, an anionic surfactant. This method can be used to determine 40∼460 ng mL⁻¹ nitrite ion ; the effective molar absorptivity at 535 nm and the relative standard deviation were 1.0 × 10⁵ L mol⁻¹ cm⁻¹ and 1.92% (n = 6), respectively. This procedure is much more sensitive than that using a diazotization reaction. Recoveries of nitrite ion from real samples (rain water and commercial drinking water) were within 96.9∼100%.