Simultaneous determination of Sb(III) and Sb(V) by partial least squares regression

A method for simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of Sb(III) and Sb(V) using multivariate calibration method is proposed. This method is based on the development of the reaction between the analytes and pyrogallol red at pH 2.00. The selection of variables was studied. A series of synthetic solutions containing different concentrations of Sb(III) and Sb(V) were used to check the prediction ability of the partial least squares model. The calibration curves were linear over the range of 0.3–3.4 and 0.3–3.0 μg ml−1 for Sb(III) and Sb(V), respectively. The detection limits were 0.177 and 0.200 μg ml−1 for Sb(III) and Sb(V), respectively.