Investigation of the reaction of copper(I) with 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline at trace level by thermal lensing

The stability constants for copper(I) chelate with 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline are determined by thermal lensing, and the advantages over spectrophotometric determination of stability constants are shown. Changes in the photometric reaction when moving from the microgram to the nanogram level of reactants are discussed. The conditions for the thermal-lens determination of copper are optimized. The limit of detection of copper is 3×10−8 mol dm−3, and the linear calibration range 1×10−7–1×10−5 mol dm−3.