Electronic Journal of Biology

Three Very Different UV-VIS Absorption Spectra of Three Different Transition Metals Found in Biological Solutions

We are introducing three colorful experimental models using typical spectrophotometer that are appropriate for undergraduate analytical chemistry, general chemistry, biochemistry, and biology students. One of the main aims of this paper is to make a comparison between the nature and the source of the colors that different chemical samples possess using UV-Visspectroscopy. The chemical samples are naturally occurring such as chlorophyll and simple inorganic salts such as Chromium (III) and Permanganate in aqueous solutions. The maximum absorption peaks for Permanganate appeared at 310 and 530 nm. The chlorophyll peaks appeared at 440 and 660 nm. The Chromium (III) peaks appeared at 300, 420 and 580 nm. The rationales behind these colored solutions and the appearance of these peaks are discussed and explained.

Author(s):

Yahia Z Hamada, Nyasha Makoni, Hasan Hamada

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