Complexometric determination of palladium(II) using thioacetamide as a selective masking agent

A simple, rapid and accurate complexometric method for the determination of palladium(II) is proposed, based on the selective masking property of thioacetamide towards palladium(II). In the presence of diverse metal ions, palladium(II) is complexed with excess of EDTA and the surplus EDTA is back titrated at pH 5-5.5(acetic acid-sodium acetate buffer) with standard lead nitrate solution using xylenol orange as indicator. An excess of a 0.5% aqueous solution of thioacetamide is then added to displace EDTA from Pd(II)-EDTA complex. The released EDTA is titrated with the same standard lead nitrate solution as before. Reproducible and accurate results are obtained in the concentration range 0.5mg - 17.80mg of palladium with relative error of +/- 0.16% and coefficient of variation not exceeding 0.26%. The effect of diverse ions is studied. The method is used for the determination of palladium in its complexes, catalysts and synthetic alloy mixtures.