Extraction-spectrophotometric determination of tungsten with thiocyanate and some amidines

The procedure is based on reduction of W(VI) to W(V) by tin(II) chloride in 6 M hydrochloric acid, and extraction of the resultant thiocyanate complexes with a benzene solution of amidine. The complex coagulates and is dissolved in the benzene by addition of 1-pentanol. The maximum molar absorptivities of the complexes with 8 amidines in benzene/1-pentanol (9:1, v/v) are in the range 12 100–18 400 mol−1 cm−1. The simplest compound, N,N-diphenylbenzamidine gives the best sensitivity; the linear range covers 5–90 μg W in 10 ml of final solution; the detection limit is 2 ng W ml−1. The method is applied to alloy steels.