Preconcentration of trace nickel with the ion pair of disodium 1-nitroso-2-naphthol-3,6-disulfonate and tetradecyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride on microcrystalline naphthalene or by the column method and determination by third derivative spectrophotometry.

Nickel is quantitatively retained by disodium 1-nitroso-2-naphthol-3,6-disulfonate (nitroso-R salt) and tetradecyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride (TDBA(+)Cl(-)) on microcrystalline naphthalene in the pH range 5.4-12.1 from large volumes of aqueous solutions of various alloys and biological samples. After filtration, the solid mass consisting of the nickel complex and naphthalene was dissolved with 5 ml of dimethylformamide (DMF) and the metal was determined by third derivative spectrophotometry. Nickel complex can alternatively be quantitatively adsorbed on tetradecyldimethylbenzylammonium-naphthalene adsorbent packed in a column and determined similarly. The detection limit is 10 ppb (signal to noise ratio 2) and the calibration curve is linear from 30 to 5.4x10(3) ppb in dimethylformamide solution with a correlation coefficient of 0.9997 by measuring the distance d(3)A/dlambda(3) between lambda(1) (537 nm) and lambda(2) (507 nm). Eight replicated determinations of 2.5 mug of nickel in 5 ml of dimethylformamide solution gave a mean intensity (peak-to-peak signal between lambda(1) and lambda(2)) of 0.339 with a relative standard deviation of +/-0.87%. The sensitivity of the method is 0.677 ml/mug found from the slope (d(3)A/dnm(3)) of the calibration curve. Various parameters such as the effect of pH, volume of aqueous phase and interference of a number of metal ions on the determination of nickel has been studied in detail to optimize the conditions for nickel determination in various alloys and biological samples.