Aqueous two-phase extraction of nickel dimethylglyoximato complex and its application to spectrophotometric determination of nickel in stainless steel

A polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based aqueous two-phase system has been established for the extraction of Ni-dimethylglyoximato complex. Appropriate amounts of PEG solution and solid (NH4)2SO4 were added to the Ni-dimethylglyoximato complex which had been formed in the presence of sodium tartrate and K2S2O8 at pH 12 in a separatory funnel and shaken vigorously for about 1 min. The mixture was allowed to stand for 10 min and then the absorbance of the extracted complex in the upper PEG-rich phase was measured at 470 nm. Beer's law was obeyed over the range of 0.26-2.1 ppm Ni. The proposed extraction method has been applied to the determination of Ni in steel. A steel sample was decomposed with an appropriate acid mixture. An aliquot of the sample solution was taken, treated with H3PO4 and most of the iron and copper were removed by hydroxide precipitation using solid BaCO3 to control the pH of the sample solution in advance of the extraction of Ni. The analytical results obtained for Ni in steel certified reference material JSS 650-10 (The Japan Iron and Steel Federation), BCS 323 (Bureau of Analysed Samples Ltd.) and NIST SRM 361 and 362 (National Institute of Standards and Technology) were in good agreement with certified values.