Complexometric determination of thallium(III) using ethanethiol as a selective masking agent

A simple and selective complexometric method for the determination of thallium in presence of other metal ions is proposed based on the selective masking ability of ethanethiol towards thallium(III). Thallium present in a given sample solution is first complexed with a known excess of EDTA and the surplus EDTA is titrated with standard zinc sulphate solution at pH 5-6(hexamine) using xylenol orange as the indicator. A 0.3% aqueous solution of ethanethiol is then added to displace EDTA from the Tl(III)-EDTA complex. The released EDTA is titrated with standard zinc sulphate solution as before. Reproducible and accurate results are obtained for 3.70 mg to 74.07 mg of Tl (III) with relative error less than ±0.44% and coefficient of variation not more than 0.27%. The interference of various ions was studied and the method was used for the analysis of thallium in its synthetic alloy mixtures and also in complexes.