Determination of trace copper (II) in water samples by kinetic-spectrophotometry

A new kinetic-spectrophotometric method is proposed for the determination of copper (II). The method is based on the catalytic effect of copper (II) on the oxidation of weak acid brilliant blue dye (RAWL) by hydrogen peroxide. The copper (II) can be determined spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease of absorbance of RAWL at λ = 626 nm using the fix-time method. The optimum reaction conditions are as follows: pH 7.20, buffer solution NaOH-KH 2 PO 4 , RAWL (200 mg L −1 ) 5.00 mL, H 2 O 2 (30%) 0.50 mL, reaction temperature 80°C and reaction time 20 min. The linear range of this method is between 0 μgL −1 and 12 μgL −1 and the limit of detection is 0.011 μgL −1 , the relative standard deviation (RSD) in five replicate determinations for 2 and 8 μgL −1 copper (II) are 3.2% and 2.3%, respectively. Twenty ions do not interfere in the determination of copper (II). The method has been applied satisfactorily to the determination of copper (II) in freshwater samples (tap water and Yellow River water from Lijin, Shandong, China) and seawater samples (from the South China Sea), the recovery rates are 98.0%, 102.5% and 96.0%, respectively.