Trace Determination of Copper in Foodstuffs and Biological Samples

Abstract

A new heterocyclic bis-azo dye, 2,6-bis(4-sulfo-1-hydroxy-2-naphthylazo)pyridine, sodium salt (PBS), has been prepared and developed as a sensitive and highly selective chromogenic reagent for spectrophotometric determination of copper. The reagent is found to give a 1:2 (M/L) complex at pH 6.0. Beer's law is followed up to 1.8 ppm with an optimal concentration range between 0.2 and 1.4 ppm. Sandell's sensitivity of the color reaction was calculated to be 0.0013 µg cm−2 with molar absorptivity of 4.9 × 104 l·mol−1 cm−1 at 572 nm. The interfering effects of various cations and anions were also studied. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of copper(II) in milk, tea samples, cereals, and legume grains consumed by the Indian vegetarians and in some biological samples. Comparison of the results with those obtained using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer tested the validity of the method.