Spectrophotometric method for the analysis of rare earths by first and second order derivatives

Spectrophotometric methods are widely used for the analysis of rare earth elements as they are simple, fast, precise and accurate. Many of the rare earth ions in acidic solutions absorb in ultraviolet and visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Because of the restricted transition of the 4f electrons the absorption peaks are very sharp and these peaks are used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of rare elements. When analysis of one or two minor constituents in the mixture of rare earths is involved, it is a straightforward and simple matter, but the analysis of multiple elements from a complex mixture is very difficult because of the mutual interference of the absorption bands. Simultaneous equations of the type: (OD)1 = CA X ΦA1 + CB X ΦB1 and (OD)2 = CA X ΦA2 + CB X ΦB2 are also employed to overcome the mutual interference. In this paper first order and second order derivative spectra are used for the analysis of rare earths. It is a simple and effective technique for accurate analysis of rare earths from a complex mixture. Absorption data in the first derivative mode is also presented. Analysis of Nd-Pr-Sm from their synthetic mixtures is reported. (author). 4 refs., 1 tab., 1 ill