International Journal of Pharma and Bio Sciences V1(2)2010 DIRECT AND DERIVATIVE SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC DETERMINATION OF COPPER(II) AND NICKEL(II) IN BEER, WINE AND EDIBLE OILS www.ijpbs.net Analytical chemistry 1                   1 Department of Chemistry, Nagole Institute of Technology and Science, Kuntloor (Village), Hayathnagar (Mandal), Hyderabad, India. 2 Department of Chemistry, JNT University College of Engineering, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Anantapur, Anantapur- 515002, (A.P) India. *Corresponding author raamesh_1120@yahoo.co.in  Derivative spectrophotometric determination of copper(II) and nickel(II) based on the formation of their complexes with Diacetylmonoxime-4-hydroxybenzoylhydrazone (DM-4-HBH) reagent has been proposed. Direct and derivative method has been developed for the spectrophotometric determination of micro quantity of Cu(II) and Ni(II) in basic medium. The reagent gives yellowish green and light green coloured complex in pH 10.5 and 9.0 respectively. The maximum absorbance measured at λ max 396 nm and λ max 380 nm for copper(II) and nickel(II) complexes. The molar absorpitivity and sandell’s sensitivity are 1.8 x 10 4 , 2 x 10 4 L.mol -1 .cm -1 and 0.0035, 0.0029 g.cm -2 respectively. Copper(II) and nickel(II) forms (M:L) 1:1 complex and stability constant of the complexes are 4.2 x 10 6 and 7.5 x 10 5 respectively. The derivative amplitude was measured at λ max 433 nm and 404 nm respectively. The developed method was applied for the determination of Cu(II) in Beer, Wine and Ni(II) in edible oil samples.  Diacetylmonoxime-4-hydroxybenzoylhydrazone (DM-4HBH), derivative Spectrophotometry, Copper(II), Nickel(II) determination.  Oximes and hydrazones are two different classes of chromogenic reagents widely used for the derivative spectrophotometric determination of metal ions. The potential analytical applications of hydrazone derivatives have been reviewed by Singh et al 1 . In the light of analytical potentialities of oximes and hydrazones, here in we report the analytical properties of reagents containing both functionalities viz. oximes and hydrazones. Diacetylmonoxime-4-hydroxybenzoylhydrazone (DM-4-HBH) reagent was synthesized and employed for the spectrophotometric determination of copper(II) and nickel(II) in Beer, wine and edible oils. Derivative Spectrophotometry is a very useful technique, in the sense that, it decrease the interference i.e. increase the tolerance limit value of the foreign ions. The great interest towards derivative spectrophotometry is due to the increased resolution of spectral bands, allowing the detection and location of the wavelengths of poorly resolved components of complex spectra and reducing the effect of spectral background interferences. Because of these characteristics, the process of isolation and pre-concentration of active components, usually required in qualitative and quantitative spectrophotometric procedures applied in the analysis of complex systems, is completely avoided. However reagents containing two functional groups are not exploited much in the derivative spectrophotometric methods for the determination of metal ions 2-4 .