Determination of ruthenium and osmium in each other's presence in chloride solutions by direct and third-order derivative spectrophotometry.

Ruthenium and osmium (up to 20 mug Ru(Os) ml(-1)) can be determined in chloride solutions directly after absorption of RuO(4) and OsO(4) in hydrochloric acid. In 9 M HCl, RuO(4) and OsO(4) are quantitatively converted into RuCl(6)(2-) (lambda(max) = 480.0 nm, epsilon = 4.8 x 10(3) l mol(-1) cm(-1)) and OsCl(6)(2-) (lambda(max) = 334.8 nm, epsilon = 8.4 x 10(3) l mol(-1) cm(-1)) respectively. Osmium does not interfere with the determination of ruthenium in the form of the RuCl(6)(2-) complex by direct spectrophotometry. The absorbance of the obtained solution at lambda(max) = 480.0 nm corresponds only to the concentration of ruthenium. A derivative spectrophotometric method using numerical calculation of absorption spectra of the RuCl(6)(2-) and OsCl(6)(2-) complexes has been developed for the determination of osmium in a mixture with ruthenium. The interfering effect of ruthenium on the determination of osmium can be eliminated by measuring the value of a third-order derivative spectrum of the OsCl(6)(2-) complex at 350.0 nm ("zero-crossing point" of ruthenium). Simple and rapid determination of ruthenium and osmium in a calibration standard solution of the noble metals (Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, Pt and Au) for plasma spectroscopy using the proposed methods has been achieved.