Rapid spectrophotometric method (aqueous and extractive) for the determination of titanium in silicate rocks

A sensitive and highly selective aqueous as well as extractive spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of titanium(IV) using 2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene (H(2)ND) as a chromogenic agent. The reagent (H(2)ND) forms a 1:3 (TiOH(3+):ligand) complex at pH 4-9. The molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity are 3.2 x 10(4) l . mol(-1)mol . cm(-1) and 0.001 microg/cm(2), respectively at lambda(max) 375 nm. The method has been found highly selective for Ti(IV) determination in rock samples. Solvent extraction of Ti(IV) in ethylacetate greatly improves the detection limit of the method. The method has been successfully applied to diverse silicate rock samples and results obtained are favourably comparable with those obtained from the tiron method. The reagent (H(2)ND) used in the present investigation is a much better variant than tiron for titanium(IV) determination in silicate rock samples in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, operational simplicity and economy.