Determination of tin in canned foods by UV/visible spectrophotometric technique using mixed surfactants

The complex of tin(IV) with bromopyrogallol red (BPR) in the presence of nonyl phenoxy polyethoxyethanol (OP) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) has a sensitive absorption peak at 304 nm. Under the optimal conditions, Beer's law is obeyed over the range 0.1-2.5 mu g ml(-1) Sn(IV) with molar absorptivity being 8.2 x 10(4) 1 mol(-1) cm(-1) and detection limit 0.018 mu g ml(-1). As compared with the visible method which also uses BPR as chromogenic reagent (lambda(max) = 550 nm), our method is sensitive and selective because of the complex's high, sharp absorption peak. In addition, the present method is simple and rapid, no heating or standing is needed. By means of the mixed surfactants the precipitation caused by the ion association of cetyltrimethylammonium cation and I, anion is avoided if iodide is used for separating micro amounts of tin(IV) from a sample matrix. An application of the proposed method to the determination of Sn(IV) in a canned food was made with satisfactory results. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.