Kinetic-spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of As(III) based on its inhibitory effect on the redox reaction between bromate and hydrochloric acid

A simple, sensitive, rapid and reliable method has been developed for spectrophotometric determinations of As(III) in the presence of As(V) based on its inhibition effect on the redox reaction between bromate and hydrochloric acid. The decolorization of methyl orange by the reaction products was used to monitor the reaction spectrophotometrically at 525 nm. The method allows the determination of arsenic in the range of 6–1000 μg l−1. The relative standard deviation for 10 determinations of 40 μg l−1 of As(III) was 1.43% and the limit of detection, corresponding to a signal to noise ratio of three, was 3.4 μg l−1. The proposed method was applied to the determination of As(III) in water samples with satisfactory results.