Abstract
Semimethylxylenol Blue reacts with zirconium to form a water-soluble red complex. The colored solution has an absorption maximum between 578 and 581 nm and shows a definite absorbance over the pH range from 1.4 to 2. O. The reaction is very sensitive and the sensitivity of the determination is 9.8 x 10-4 μ g Zr/cm2 for log (I/I)=O.001 at 579 nm, and Beer's law is obeyed up to 0.8 μ g/ml of zirconium. Of 44 diverse ions examined, gallium, bismuth (III), hafnium, thorium, iron (III) and fluoride interfere with the determination. But the effect of iron (III) is eliminated with ascorbic acid and the interference from bismuth (III) can be also removed by filtration of its oxide compound precipitated.
