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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Separation of Uranium and Thorium for 230Th-U Dating of Submarine Hydrothermal Sulfides
Published on: May 20, 2019
Simultaneous determination of uranium and thorium with Arsenazo III by second-derivative spectrophotometry
R Kuroda1, M Kurosaki, Y Hayashibe
1Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, University of Chiba, Yayoi-cho, Chiba 260, Japan.
Abstract:
A derivative spectrophotometric method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of microgram quantities of uranium and thorium with Arsenazo III in hydrochloric acid medium. The second-derivative absorbances of the uranium and thorium Arsenazo III complexes at 679.5 and 684.4 nm are used for their quantification. Uranium and thorium, both in the range 0.1-0.7 mug/ml have been determined simultaneously with good precision. The procedure does not require separation of uranium and thorium, and allows the determination of both metals in the presence of alkaline-earth metals and zirconium, but lanthanides interfere.
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