Spectrophotometric determination of vanadium(V) with desferrioxamine B

Abstract

A naturally occurring trihydroxamic acid, desferrioxamine B, reacts with the vanadium(V) ion in strongly acidic aqueous solutions producing a stable 1 : 1 complex (log K= 6.09 at 22 °C). This red-violet chelate, used for the spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of vanadium(V)(λ_max.= 480 nm, molar absorptivity, ε= 3.15 × 10³ l mol^–1 cm^–1), obeys Beer's law in the vanadium concentration range 0.5–50.0 p.p.m. The interferences of many foreign substances have been examined, and a sensitive, highly selective, accurate and precise method for the determination of vanadium(V) is proposed.