Spectrophotometric determination of palladium(II) using piperonal thiosemicarbazone

Abstract

A simple, rapid, selective and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of palladium is proposed using piperonal thiosemicarbazone (PATS) as a reagent. The reagent forms a 1:2 complex (Pd:Reagent) with palladium. The yellow complex is soluble in 32-40% ethanol and has an absorption maximum at 363 nm. Beer's law is obeyed upto 3.85 ppm of palladium and the optimum concentration range is 0.5-2.45 ppm of Pd. The molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity are 3.80×10⁴ dm³ mol^-1 cm^-1 and 2.8×10^-3 μg cm^-2, respectively. The experimental conditions for complete colour development and the interference from various ions are investigated. The method is used for the determination of palladium in its complexes and synthetic mixtures.