2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone benzoic hydrazone for spectrophotometric determination of copper(II) and iron(III) in soil and cement

2,4-Dihydroxybenzophenone benzoic hydrazone (DHBPBH) is employed as an anal ytical reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of copper and iron. The reagent forms 1:1 greenish yellow coloured complex with copper(II) at pH 4.0 and lambda(max) 380 nm (epsilon 1.55 x 10(4) dm(3) mol(-1) cm(-1)); Sandell's sensitivity 0.004 mu g cm(-2), and Beer's law range 0.31-2.2 mu g ml(-1). It results a brown coloured 2:3 complex with iron(III) at pH 5.0 a nd lambda(max) 380 nm (epsilon 2.8 x 10(4) dm(3) mol(-1) cm(-1)); Sandell's sensitivity 0.002 mu g cm(-1) and Beer's law range 0.14-1.0 mu g ml(-1). T he method has been applied for the determination of copper in soil and allo y samples and iron(III) in cement sample.