A novel, simple and sensitive resonance scattering spectral method for the determination of chlorite in water by means of rhodamine B.

A new resonance scattering method was proposed for the determination of chlorite, basing on the resonance scattering effect of rhodamine dye. In HCl-sodium acetate buffer solution, chlorite oxidizes I- into I2 and the reaction of I2 and excess I- results in I3- It is respectively combined with rhodamine dyes, including rhodamine B (RhB), butyl rhodamine B (b-RhB), rhodamine G (RhG) and rhodamine S (RhS), to form association complex particles, which exhibit stronger resonance scattering (RS) effect at 400 nm. The chlorite concentration of ClO2- in the range of 0.00726-0.218 microg/ml, 0.0102-0.292 microg/ml, 0.00726 0.145 microg/ml and 0.0290 0.174 microg/ml is respectively linear to the RS intensity of association complex particle systems at 400 nm for the RhB, b-RhB, RhG and RhS. The detection limits of the four systems were respectively 0.00436, 0.00652, 0.00580 and 0.01450 microg/ml ClO2-. In the four systems, the RhB system possesses good stability and high sensitivity. It has been applied to the analysis of chlorite in wastewater with satisfactory results.