Green methods for the determination of nitrite in water samples based on a novel diazo coupling reaction

Green, sensitive and selective spectrophotometric methods were developed for the determination of nitrite in water samples. The methods (A, B and C) are based on the reduction of 5-nitroimidazoles; metronidazole (MTL), secnidazole (SCL) and tinidazole (TNL), respectively, followed by diazotization using nitrite in acidic medium, then coupling with pyrogallol (PG). The amount of nitrite was determined by measuring the absorbance of the colored product at 385 nm. The new methods were linear in the ranges of 2.5-30 mu gml(-1), with detection limits of 1.4 mu gml(-1).