Gu Jin, Yurui Zhu, Wanquan Jiang, Boping Xie and Bin Cheng
A highly sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of cobalt(II) using the chromogenic reagent 4,4′-diazobenzenediazoaaminoazobenzene (BBDAB) was developed. The optimum conditions for the chromogenic reaction of cobalt(II) with BBDAB were studied in the presence of Triton X-100 and sodium tetraborate. The calibration graphs were rectilinear in the range 0–7 µg per 25 cm3 cobalt(II). The apparent molar absorptivity is 1.72 × 105 dm3 mol-1 cm-1 with a Sandell’s sensitivity of 0.00035 µg cm-2. The method was applied to the determination of cobalt in soil and vitamin B12 with satisfactory results.