A novel catalytic procedure for the determination of ultratrace zirconium

A novel catalytic procedure for zirconium was proposed based on Zr(IV) catalyzed oxidation of gallocyanine by hydrogen peroxide in hexamethylene tetramine-hydrochloric acid buffer medium. The calibration graph is linear for 0-110 ng.ml(-1), and the detection limit is 0.4 ng.ml(-1) Zr(IV). Most foreign ions do not interfere with the determination, except for Cu2+, Fe3+ and Cr(VI). The interferences of Cu2+ and Fe3+ could be eliminated by masking with EDTA and mannitol, and that of Cr(VI) by reducing to Cr(IH) with ascorbic acid. The typical features of this procedure are that it is sensitive for zirconium, and the determination could be carried out at room temperature. It had been used to the determination of zirconium in zirconium bronze, simulated samples and a certified reference material. The recoveries were 98.6 similar to 102%, and relative standard deviations (R.S.D.) were 0.9 similar to 3.5%, respectively.