On-line speciation of bromine and bromide using sequential injection analysis with spectrophotometric detection

An on-line procedure for the simultaneous determination of bromine and total bromine (bromine+bromide oxidised to bromine) is proposed, which lead to the determination of bromide by subtraction. Phenol red was used as chromogenic reagent for bromine and total bromine after bromide was oxidised to bromine by Chloramine T. The linear range found is 1-10 mg L-1 with a detection limit of 0.6 mg L-1 for bromine, and a linear range of 0.8-15 mg L-1 with a detection limit of 0.4 mg L-1 for total bromine. The calculated RSD for bromine is less than 0.8% and for total bromine less than 0.7%. The system is fully computerised and able to run 30 samples per hour with an automated rinsing step that eliminates sample carry-over. The results for both bromine and bromide from the proposed sequential injection analysis (SIA) system compare favourably with standard manual methods and statistical evaluation proves no significant difference between the results of the proposed SIA system and the standard method at the 95% confidence level. The presence of other halides was found not to interfere.