Spectrophotometric determination of trace phenol by its inhibitory effect on the oxidation-decoloration of methyl violet with potassium periodate

A spectrophotometric method for the determination of phenol,which based on its inhibitory effect to the oxidatioin reaction of methyl violet with potassium periodate in HAc-NaAc buffer medium at 25℃,was described.The maximum absorption wavelength was 580nm.Phenol could be determined in the concentration range of 0.02μg/mL～2.2μg/mL,and detection limit of the method is 3.8×10-3μg/mL.The method has been successfully applied for the determined of trace phenol in water samples of environment with the relative standard deviations(RSD) of 1.97%～2.25% and the recovery of 99.5%～100.5%.