Spectrophotometric Determination of Copper (II) with 5-Hydroxy-6-Mercapto-Benzo [a] Phenazine

5-Hydroxy-6-mercapto-benzo [a] phenazine (HMBP) is proposed as a sensitive and selective analytical reagent for the extractive spectrophotometric determination of copper (II). Copper reacts with HMBP to give a dark red complex which is soluble in chloroform. The composition of the CuII HMBP complex is established as 1:2 by Job s continuous variation method and molar ratio method. The instability constant of the complex calculated by Job s relation for nonisomolar series is 4.65 . 10-9, at room temperature. The CuII-HMBP complex in chlorophorm shows a maximum absorbance at 495 nm, with molar absorptivity and Sandell s sensitivity values of 7.39 . 103dm3 mol-1 cm-1 and 0.012 mg cm-2, respectively. Beer s law is obeyed in the concentration range 0.67 - 26.90 mg mL-1 and the detection limit is 0.59 mg mL-1. A repetition of the method is checked by finding the relative standard deviation (RSD) at 1.00 mg mL-1 CuII of 0.6%. The method is successfully employed for the determination of copper (II) in environmental samples. The reliability of the method is assured by analysing the standard alloys and by inter-comparison of experimental values, using an atomic absorption spectrometer.