Chemical Science Review and Letters ISSN 2278-6783 Chem Sci Rev Lett 2015, 4(15), 880-888 Article CS13204607 880 Research Article Determination of Trace Concentrations of Lead(II) in Environment Samples using Hydroxamic acids: An Important Issue of Public Health Seema Singh, Jeena Harjit * , H.C. Kataria and Sulbha Amlathe Chemistry Department, Barkatullah University, Bhopal (M.P)-462026, India Abstract N-phenyl-benzo hydroxamic acid (N-PBHA), N-phenyl- p-chloro-benzo hydroxamic acid (N-p-ClPBHA) and N- phenyl- p-chloro-cinnamohydroxamic acids (N-p- ClPCHA) used as analytical reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of Lead (II). Lead (II) reacts with different hydroxamic acids and forms light yellow to orange colored complex in alkaline medium which were extracted in n- hexane. The calibration graph was linear over the concentration range of 0.000999- 0.013986, 0.000999-0.01198 and 0.0004995-0.007992 μgml -1 for N-Phenyl-benzo-hydroxamic acid (N-PBHA), N-p- Chloro-phenyl- benzo-hydroxamic acid (N-p- ClPBHA) and N-p- Chloro-phenyl-cinnamohydroxamic acid (N-p-ClPCHA), respectively. The molar absorptivities were found to be 2.4 x 10 5 , 8.8 x 10 4 and 1.2 x 10 5 L mol -1 cm -1 for the three hydroxamic acids. The optimum reaction condition and other analytical parameter were evaluated. Keywords: Lead, Environmental samples, N-PBHA, N-p-ClPBHA and N-p-ClPCHA *Correspondence Author: Jeena Harjit Email: Jeena_harjeet@rediff.com Introduction Trace metal ions have important roles in our life functioning in a wide spectrum. Thus, the determination of trace metal ions is becoming increasingly important because of the increased interest in environmental samples including water, soil and plant, etc. Lead is a cumulative poison that enters the body from lead water pipes, lead-based paints and leaded petrol [1]. The determination of trace amount of lead is very important in the context of environmental monitoring. Many analytical techniques based on differential pulse polarographic [2], potentiometric stripping [3], colorimetric [4], flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry [5], flame atomic absorption spectrometry after pre- concentration with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate immobilized on surfactant-coated alumina [6], automated voltammetric [7],anodic stripping differential pulse voltammetric [8],polymeric electrochemical sensors [9], optical sensor based on 2-amino-cyclopentene-1-dithiocarboxylic acid [10], high performance liquid chromatography [11], electrochemical determination [12] have also been described for determination of lead. A flow injection system for the spectrophotometric determination of lead after preconcentration by solid phase extraction onto Amberlite XAD-4 [13] has also been described. Extraction of lead (II) by sorption on grinded eucalyptus stem and determination with flame atomic absorption spectrometry has been reported [14]. Removal of lead by swine bone adsorbents has also been reviewed [15]. Therefore, there is a continued interest in the synthesis of new organic reagents that could be able to be used for direct and rapid spectrophotometric determination of trace level of lead, especially in aqueous solutions. In this work, the exploration about the potential of hydroxamic acid as chromogenic agent for determination of Pb from aqueous solution has been made. Several parameters influencing the recoveries of analytes, including pH of sample, sample volume and effect of divers ions have been investigated in detail. An optimized procedure has been applied to the determination of trace metals in water samples. Though many methods for determination of lead by hydroxamic acids are already repoted, the method describe in this paper is better than the earlier as it is much