Spectrophotometric determination of carbon monoxide with ruthenium(II) octaethylporphyrin

A novel spectrophotometric method for the estimation of carbon monoxide at levels from 2 to 250 ppm is presented. The method is empirical and based on formation of a carbonyl complex of ruthenium(II) octaethylporphyrin and measurement of the difference in absorbance at 393.5 nm between this complex and the porphyrin reagent. Oxygen and nitrogen do not interfere and up to 300 ppm of sulphur dioxide and about 1500 ppm of carbon dioxide can be tolerated in determination of carbon monoxide at the 4 and 10 ppm levels. Hydrogen sulphide interferes and must be removed before the determination. The method has been tested over the range 2-45 ppm of carbon monoxide with 16 synthetic and 2 commercial standard air samples. The average error was +/- 3%. Application to urban-air samples and car-exhaust gases yielded acceptable results. The main disadvantages are the tedious preparation of the initial ruthenium(III)-porphyrin compound and the decomposition of the reagent in the presence of hydrazine.