Journal Article

Spectrophotometric Determination of Boron in Saltwater Using Azomethine H and Ferroin Reagents

Abstract

Analysis of boron concentration is increasing gaining interest owing to the importance of boron in plants and animals nutrition. Boron is a micronutrient in plant nutrition with role in strengthen of cell wall. Studies have also suggested that boron reduces risk of diabetes in human. However, boron toxicity has also been established in both plants and animals. This has necessitated legislation of permissible level of boron. A number of methods have been employed in the analysis of boron in different samples. Spectrophotometric methods have been widely used for routine boron analysis. The effectiveness of two extraction reagents for boron analysis were compared. Extraction of boron as boric acid was carried out using ferroin and azomethine H reagents. Samples were collected from saltwater sources. The ferroin borodisalicylate complex and 1, 3 bischelate boron complexes were measured at fixed wavelengths of 410 and 516 nm respectively. The result obtained for boron concentration range from 3.69 ± 0.04 to 4.98 ± 0.09 ppm with ferroin method while 2.80 ± 0.10 to 4.87 ± 0.08 ppm with azomethine H method. A p-value of 0.792 was obtained when t-test was conducted. Result of statistical analysis showed that boron concentrations of the methods used were not significantly different. The result of this research shows that boron concentration in salt and freshwater using extraction reagent. It shows that boron levels in the natural water is within the permissible level.

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