Separation and determination of ruthenium by evolution with chromium(VI)-condensed phosphoric acid reagent.
Ruthenium in various chemical forms can be evolved as the tetroxide from insoluble matrix materials by heating the sample with chromium(VI)-condensed phosphoric acid reagent (abbreviated as Cr(VI)-CPA). Because of its excellent decomposing power for various solid samples, condensed phosphoric acid is very useful in the chemical analysis of various insoluble materials, and when an oxidizing agent such as potassium dichromate is added in the CPA medium, drastic oxidation proceeds on heating. This method is now extended to the separation of ruthenium from marine sediments. During the reaction with Cr(VI)-CPA ruthenium tetroxide is evolved and collected in an absorbent solution of 6M hydrochloric acid and ethanol (1:1), and the ruthenium is then determined spectrophotometrically with thiourea or radiometrically by counting the beta or gamma-activity. Osmium, which can be evolved as the tetroxide by the same treatment, can be eliminated beforehand by heating the sample with Ce(IV)-CPA, which removes osmium but not ruthenium. The successive distillations by means of Ce(IV)-CPA and Cr(VI)-CPA give satisfactory results for the separation between osmium and ruthenium. This method might be useful for the separation of ruthenium in geochemical or neutron-activation analysis.
Kiba
T
T
Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Kanazawa University, Marunouchi-1, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Pref., Japan.
Terada
K
K
Kiba
T
T
Suzuki
K
K