Extraction and spectrophotometric determination of molybdenum and iron in the thiocyanate system

A sensitive and modified method for the separation ad estimation of microam ounts of molybdenum(tl) in presence of macroamount of Lon(III) in the thioc yanate system has been developed The orange red complex Mo(VI) - SCN in the presence of HCl is quantitatively extractable to a organic phase containin g tribenzylamine and chloroform whereas blood red complex Fe(III)- SCN rema ins in the aqueous phase. The Mo - SCN complex has maximum absorption at 47 0 nm while re - SCN complex absorbs at 460 nm The stability of Mo - SCN com plex stands for 72 hours whereas Fe - SCN complex life is for only few hour s. The interference due to various ions (cations and anions) has ban also c arried out.