Spectrophotometric simultaneous determination of metal ions in cows' milk and vegetables with the aid of artificial neural networks using synthetic 2‐benzylspiro[isoindoline‐1,5′‐oxazolidine]‐2′,3,4′‐trione

Abstract

A simple, selective and sensitive multi-component method for the simultaneous determination of Zn(2+) , Mn(2+) and Fe(3+) based on complex formation with 2-benzylspiro[isoindoline-1,5'-oxazolidine]-2',3,4'-trione using artificial neural networks is proposed. The analytical data showed that metal-to-ligand ratios in Zn(2+) and Fe(3+) complexes was 1:1 and for Mn(2+) complex was 1:2. It was found at pH 6.5 and 5 min after mixing, the complexation reactions were completed. The coloured complexes exhibited absorption bands in the wavelength range 200-400 nm. The results showed that Zn(2+) , Mn(2+) and Fe(3+) could be determined in the range 0.1-18.0, 0.3-10.0 and 0.5-20.0 mg L(-1) , respectively. The data obtained from synthetic mixtures of metal ions were processed by radial basis function networks (RBFNs) and back-propagation neural network. The optimal conditions of the neural networks were obtained by adjusting various parameters. Satisfactory precision and accuracy were obtained with all networks, although, because of surprisingly lower root mean square error (%) values, RBFNs were the preferred approach. The proposed approach was tested by analysing the composition of the different mixtures containing Zn(2+) , Mn(2+) and Fe(3+) . The proposed method was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of Zn(2+) , Mn(2+) and Fe(3+) ions in milk and vegetable samples.