Spectrophotometric determination of ferric dimethyldithiocarbamate (ferbam) in formulations, grain and apples using 1, 10-phenanthroline

A procedure has been developed for the determination of ferbam (ferric dimethyldithiocarbamate) by converting it into ferbam‐phenanthroline complex, which is dissolved in acetone + water (1 + 1 by volume), and the absorbance measured at 490 nm against a reagent blank. Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration range 0–8–20‐0 mg litre−1 in the final solution. The method is sensitive, selective and can be used for the direct determination of ferbam in commercial samples, in mixtures with various other dithiocarbamates (ziram, zineb, maneb, etc.) and from grains (rice and wheat) and apples. The limit of determination from foodstuffs is 0–4 mg kg−1.