Catalytic method for the determination of ruthenium in the presence of other noble metals

Abstract

A kinetic method is proposed for the determination of ruthenium based on the catalytic effect of ruthenium(III) on the p-ethoxychrysoidine-periodate reaction. The reaction is followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in the absorbance of the dye at 477 nm. Under the optimum experimental conditions, ruthenium can be determined at concentrations between 0.2 and 3.0 ng ml^–1. Iodide has an activating effect on the catalysed reaction and, in this way, down to 0.05 ng ml^–1 of ruthenium can be determined. The proposed method is selective and allows the determination of ruthenium in the presence of other noble metals, including osmium.