Simultaneous derivative spectrophotometric determination of zinc and cadmium with 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-diethylaminophenol in the presence of cetylpyridinium chloride.

A selective and sensitive derivative photometric method has been developed for the determination of trace amounts of Zn2+ with 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-diethylaminophenol in the presence of cetylpyridinium chloride, a cationic surfactant. The molar-absorption coefficient and analytical sensitivity of the 1:2 complex at 554 nm are 1.19 x 10(5) L mol(-1) cm(-1) and 0.56 ng mL(-1), respectively. The detection limit is 1.96 x 10(-2) ng mL(-1) and Beer's law is valid in the 0.02-0.66 microg mL(-1) range of Zn2+. The developed derivative procedure, using the zero-crossing measurement approach, is applied for the rapid and selective simultaneous determination of Zn2+ and Cd2+ in the range of 0.06-0.66 and 0.20-1.60 microg mL(-1), respectively. Complex matrices, including reference materials, environmental and biological samples and synthetic mixtures, have been successfully analyzed for trace amounts of the two metal ions.