A flow injection system for zinc analysis in mineral fertilizer mixtures is proposed using zincon as chromogenic reagent. The effect of interfering ions such as Cu2+, Fe3+, Mn2+ was eliminated by reduction (using ascorbic acid) and complexation of these metal íons with cyanide, with zinc included. Zinc is allowed to react with zincon only after the destruction of the zinc cyano complex with formaldehyde. Flow injection analysis permitted efficient control of the reaction time so that only the zinc ion is set free to produce a blue complex with zincon. Zinc was determined in 16 fertilizer mixtures (3 replicates) with precision and accuracy comparable to atomic absorption spectrometry.
spectrophotometry; zinc; fertilizer; flow injection