A very simple, highly selective and non-extractive spectrophotometric method for the trace amounts of copper(II) has been developed. salicylaldehyde acetoylhydrazone(SAAH) has been proposed as a new analytical reagent for the direct non-extractive spectrophotometric determination of copper(II). The reagent reacts with copper(II) in acidic medium(pH 5.0) to form a pale yellow coloured 1: 1 (M : L) complex. The reaction is instantaneous and the complex shows maximum absorbance at 372 nm. The molar absorptivity and Sandell’s sensitivity are found to be 1.0 x 10 4 L mol-1 cm-1 and 0.635 μg cm -2 respectively. The system obeys Beer’s law in the range, 1.0- 9.0 μg/ml of copper(II). The method is highly selective for copper and successfully used for determination of copper in leafy vegetable samples.
Spectrophotometric determination, salicylaldehyde acetoylhydrazone, molar absorptivity, Sandell’s sensitivity and leafy vegetable samples.