In the investigation of suitable solvent for metal dithizonate
complexes, dithizone was dissolved in various watermiscible
organic solvents such as acetone, n-propanol, and
acetone/n-propanol mixture. The absorption spectra were
obtained for the complex in each solvent against blank in
the wavelength range 400–600 nm (Fig. 1). Fig. 1 shows
that dithizone in acetone showed maximum absorbance
and dithizone in n-propanol showed minimum absorbance
and acetone/n-propanol (1/1, v/v) showed absorbance similar
to acetone at 493 and 510 nm. Both acetone and
acetone/n-propanol increase sensitivity of Zn and Bi detection
due to low blank values at corresponding wavelengths.
The absorbance of dithizone and dithizonate complexes in
acetone/n-propanol (1/1, v/v) solution remained stable for a