Micellanized spectrophotometric method for the determination of beryllium using haematoxylin.

A simple and sensitized spectrophotometric method for the determination of trace amounts of beryllium has been described. The method is based on the formation of a ternary complex by the reaction of beryllium with haematoxylin in the presence of micellar medium (cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide). The ternary complex of beryllium has a maximum absorbance at 592 nm and showed an excellent sensitivity (molar absorption coefficient of 7.07 x 10(4)L mol(-1)cm(-1) and the Sandell's sensitivity being 1.27 x 10(-4) microg cm(-2)) and reproducibility (within-day precision: R.S.D.<or=0.36%, n=5, between-day precision: R.S.D.<or=0.65%, n=5). Linearity was achieved over the range 0.01-0.1 microg mL(-1) of beryllium with a correlation coefficient of 0.9999. The effect of foreign substances on the determination has been examined. The proposed procedure has been applied to the determination of beryllium in water samples.