Elements V, Nb and Ta have extremely similar chemical properties. They interference seriously with each other in their analysis, and it is difficult to determine the single element. In this paper, 2-(2-pyridylazo)-5-diethylaminophenol (PADAP) is used as the pre-column derivative reagent for the first time and the simultaneous determination of V, Nb and Ta has been achieved in 11 min at 580 nm on C-18 column with mathanol-water(50/50, V/V) containing 0.1% tartaric acid and 10 mmol/L pH = 3.5 acetate buffer as the mobile phase. The detection limits ate 0.34, 0.29 and 7.30 ng/mL for V, Nb and Ta respectively when the ratio of signal to noise is 3. This method is sensitive and has been applied to the analysis of mineral. The results correspond with the certified values and the recoveries of 99.0%-101.1% are obtained.
