A sensitive spectrophotometric method for determination of carbon tetrachloride with the aid of ultrasonic decolorization of methyl orange

A sensitive method for carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) determination has been developed with the aid of ultrasonic oxidation decolorization of methyl orange (MO). It is found that the ultrasonic oxidation decolorization rate of MO can be significantly promoted by adding a little amount of CCl4. The increased ultrasonic decolorization rate of MO is strongly dependent on the concentration of CCl4 added, and a linear correlation is observed between the amount of CCl4 and the decolorization rate of MO in the ultrasonic oxidation process. Thus, the CCl4 determination is transformed to a simple and direct determination of the decoloration extent of MO solution at a given concentration. As an indirect spectrophotometric determination of CCl4, the new method is sensitive and easy of operation with a maximum wavelength of 508 nm, molar absorptivity of 3.83 × 104 L mol−1 cm−1, and a Sandell sensitivity of 7.96 × 10−3 μg cm−2. Under optimized conditions, Beer's law is obeyed in the range of 0.4–20 mg L−1 of CCl4 (DL = 0.19 mg L−1, r = 0.9996). The concentrations of CCl4 in several practical samples have been determined satisfactorily by using this method.