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The diazotisable amine, p-aminoacetophenone has been diazotized with nitrite in the presence of hydrochloric acid at room temperature, and the diazotized salt thus produced has been allowed to couple with the reagent, 2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene in alkaline medium to produce a reddish orange azo-dye suitable for the determination of nitrite at ppm level. The max of the azo-dye being 475 nm. The very azo-dye is extractable into an organic solvent like ethylacetate without shifting the max. Similarly, nitrate ion forms a strong reddish-yellow nitro product with 2,3 dihydroxynaphthalene in the presence of concentrated sulfuric acid. This nitro product is extractable into ethylacetate, and its absorbance is measured at 380nm ( max ).The Beer s law for nitrite and nitrate were obeyed in the range, 0.1 to 5.0 ppm and 0.2 to 25 ppm, respectively. The molar absorptivity of nitrite and nitrate methods are 2.5 104 and 3.2 103 L.mol-1cm-1 respectively. The RSD for both the methods are in the range, 0.5 to 2.5%.

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Tarafder, Pranab Kumar
Worked as a Senior Scientist in AMD,Deptt. of Atomic Energy,Govt. of India for 33 years. Organised a state-of-the-art Chemical laboratory at Jamshedpur India. Published more than 100 papers. Guided Ph.D and M.Sc. Students for their dissertation work. Received various awards for research contributions. Editorial board member of various journals.

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