Hydralazine Hydrochloride: An Alternative Complexometric Reagent for Total Iron Spotometric Determination

An alternative spectrophotometric method has been developed for total iron determination using flow injection analysis (FIA). The procedure is based on the coordination reaction between hydralazine and Fe2+ ions, which results in the formation of a purple complex monitored at 538 nm. For determination of total iron, Fe3+ ions were reduced using ascorbic acid. Under optimized conditions, a linear calibration graph (0.1 - 6.0 ?g?ml–1; n = 6) was obtained. The method allows LOD (3? of blank/slope = 0.06 ?g?ml–1) and LOQ (10? of blank/slope = 0.22 ?g?ml–1). The RSD ((s/ ) × 100) for a mixed standard containing 0.60 ?g?ml–1 Fe2+ and Fe3+ was 0.10% (n = 10). Recoveries of spiked samples were 94.3% - 106.0%. The analytical frequency was 60 h–1. The effect of possible interferences has been studied. The procedure was successfully applied for analysis of environmental samples. The real samples results were comparable with those obtained by the official method considering a paired t-test and 95% of confidence level.