Spectrophotometric determination of copper(I) with molybdenum(VI) as a chromogen by molybdenum blue method

Department of Chemistry, M. V. G. R. College of Engineering, Chintalavalasa, Vizianagaram-535 003, Andhra Pradesh, India E-mail : prs_ganti@yahoo.co.in, sreeram6000@gmail.com Department of Chemistry, Govt. Degree College, Tekkali-530 046, Andhra Pradesh, India Manuscript received online 26 March 2015, revised 28 April 2015, accepted 01 May 2015 A simple, accurate and precise spectrophotometric method was developed by the authors for the determination copper(I) using molybdenum(VI) (ammonium molybdate solution) as a chromogen by molybdenum blue method. During the reaction between copper(I) and ammonium molybdate solution, an instantaneous, stable ink blue color (molybdenum blue) was developed, which showed a wavelength of maximum absorption at 834.8 nm. As a result of such experiments which showed remarkable sensitivity, ammonium molybdate was also used as a reagent for the spot test of copper(I). Beer’s law was found to be obeyed up to 1.9798 mg of copper(I) chloride in the solution. Correlation factor was found to be 0.9746. SD and RSD were found to be well within the prescribed limits. The reagent, ammonium molybdate was also used for the photometric determination of copper(I) with good and appreciable results of accuracy. Thus the chromogen molybdenum(VI), can be used for both qualitative and quantitative determination of copper(I) in aqueous/ acid media.