A Sensitive Spectrophotometric Determination of Nitrite in Water and Soil

A highly sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of nitrite in water and soil has been developed. The reaction of nitrite with acidified potassium iodide to liberate iodine which oxidizes leuco‐crystal violet (LCV) to form crystal violet having absorption maxima at 590 nm forms the bases of this method. In aqueous medium the system obeys Beer's law in the range of 0.1 to 1.0 μg per 25 mL (0.004–0.04 ppm), while in an extractive system the range is 0.025–0.25 μg in 100 mL (0.00025–0.0025 ppm). The molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity were found to be 1.54 × 106 1 mol−1 cm−1 and 44 pg cm−2, respectively.