Spectrophotometric Determination of Iodate in Table Salt

Potassium iodate in table salt can be spectrophotometrically determined at two well defined UV absorption maxima (288 and 352 nm), after being converted to I3- by reaction with iodide in the presence of phosphoric acid Calibration curves with slopes of 7.320 x 10(4) and 1.103 x 10(5) L mol-1 cm-1 were obtained at 352 and 288 nm, respectively, at 22 °C. Typical results of 37.39 (±0.15) and 63.67 (±0.16) mg KIO3 per kg of salt were obtained with samples of 0.15-0.21 g, comparable with results from a standard but less precise iodometric titration of large samples (20-50 g). The method has been found adequate for checking homogeneity of iodine distribution in table salt, as small weighed samples are normally required.