Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of copper, cobalt, nickel and iron in foodstuffs and vegetables with a new bis thiosemicarbazone ligand using chemometric approaches.

A newly synthesized bis thiosemicarbazone ligand, (2Z,2'Z)-2,2'-((4S,5R)-4,5,6-trihydroxyhexane-1,2-diylidene)bis(N-phenylhydrazinecarbothioamide), was used to make a complex with Cu(2+), Ni(2+), Co(2+) and Fe(3+) for their simultaneous spectrophotometric determination using chemometric methods. By Job's method, the ratio of metal to ligand in Ni(2+) was found to be 1:2, whereas it was 1:4 for the others. The effect of pH on the sensitivity and selectivity of the formed complexes was studied according to the net analyte signal (NAS). Under optimum conditions, the calibration graphs were linear in the ranges of 0.10-3.83, 0.20-3.83, 0.23-5.23 and 0.32-8.12 mg L(-1) with the detection limits of 2, 3, 4 and 10 μg L(-1) for Cu(2+), Co(2+), Ni(2+) and Fe(3+) respectively. The OSC-PLS1 for Cu(2+) and Ni(2+), the PLS1 for Co(2+) and the PC-FFANN for Fe(3+) were selected as the best models. The selected models were successfully applied for the simultaneous determination of elements in some foodstuffs and vegetables.