A Catalytic Method for the Determination of Trace Amounts of Mercury Uptaken by Broad ‎Beams Plants

Nidal Zatar's picture
Journal Title, Volume, Page: 
Main Group Metal Chemistry Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Pages: 103-106
Year of Publication: 
1996
Authors: 
Nidal A. Zatar
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
Maher Abu-Eid
Bassem F. Shraydeh
Ismat Shakhshier
Mustafa Khamis
Preferred Abstract (Original): 
A new accurate, fast catalytic method for the determination of trace amounts of mercury uptaken by plants is proposed. The method is based on the catalytic effect of mercury(II) on the rate of ligand-exchange reaction between ferrozine and hexacyanoferrate(II) whereby a coloured violet complex is formed which absorbs at 562 nm. The method allows the determination of mercury(II) in the range 0.05-4.0 ppm. The effect of pH, hexacyanoferrate, ferrozine, temperature, time of reaction and tolerance limit of many ions have been reported. The method is applied to the determination of mercury(II) uptaken by broad beans plants irrigated with water containing different amounts of mercury(II).