392 Acta Chim. Slov. 2016, 63, 392-398 DOI: 10.17344/acsi.2016.2431 Scientific paper A 2:2:2 Complex of Vanadium(V) with 4-(2-Thiazolylazo)orcinol and 2,3,5-Triphenyl-2#-Tetrazolium Chloride Kiril Blazhev Gavazov,* Vassil Borisov Delchev, Kremena Tomova Mileva, Teodora Stefcheva Stefanova and Galya Kostadinova Toncheva Faculty of Chemistry, University of Plovdiv "Paissii Hilendarski", 4000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria * Corresponding author: E-mail: kgavazov@abv.bg Tel.:+35932261425 Received: 15-03-2016 Abstract Abstract. The complex formation in the vanadium(V) / 4-(2-thiazolylazo)orcinol (TAO) / 2,3,5-triphenyl-2H-tetrazo-lium chloride (TTC) liquid-liquid extraction-chromogenic system was studied. The chloroform-extracted complex has a composition of 2:2:2 under the optimum conditions (pH 4.8-5.2, extraction time 3 min, concentration of TAO 3.4 x 10-4 mol dm-3, and concentration of TTC 9.4 x 10-4 mol dm-3) and could be regarded as a dimer (D) of two 1:1:1 species (S) presented by the formula (TT+)[VO2(TAO)]. The constant of extraction was calculated by two methods and some analytical characteristics were determined. The wavelength of maximum absorption (A ), molar absorptivity (£A) and fraction extracted (E) were found to be A = 545 nm, £545 = 1.97 x 104 dm3 mol-1 cm-1, and E = 97.9 %. The ground-state equilibrium geometries of the complexes S and D were optimized by quantum chemical Hartree-Fock calculations using 3-21G* basis functions. The bonding and interaction energies were calculated as well. Keywords: liquid-liquid extraction; spectrophotometry; tetrazolium salt; 5-methyl-4-(2-thiazolylazo)resorcinol; 2:2:2 complex; HF calculations. 1. Introduction Vanadium is a trace element with many industrial applications.1 The recent interest in this element is also related to the observed beneficial role of its compounds for different aspects of human health.2-4 Complexes with various reagents have been proposed for determination of vanadium.5-7 However, the concentration of its species in environmental and biological samples is often lower than the corresponding limits of determination. A classical approach to solve this problem and improve the method's characteristics is to combine the instrumental method (e.g. spectrophotometry) with liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) - a simple technique for separation and preconcentration which does not require expensive equipment.8 Among the complexes applied for vanadium LLE-spectrophotometric determination and speciation of particular interest are these with participation of azocom-pounds (AC) and tetrazolium cations (TZ+).5,6,9,10 The fol- lowing ACs were investigated as components of ternary V(V)-AC-TZ complexes: 4-(2-pyridylazo)resorcinol10-12, 4-(2-thiazolylazo)resorcinol,1314 and 4-(2-thiazolyla-zo)orcinol (TAO).15 The obtained results show that the V(V):AC molar ratio in these complexes differs,11-15 as a rule, from the typical 1:1 ratio established in the presence of other ion-association reagents (Table S1). However, the reason for this peculiarity is unclear and quantum-chemical calculations on V-AC-TZ ternary complexes have never been conducted. In the light of this, the purpose of the current work is experimental (LLE-spectrophotometric) and theoretical (calculations at the HF/3-21G* level) study on the complexes formed between V(V), 2,3,5-triphenyl-2H-te-trazolium chloride (TTC) and TAO. Scarce information about the binary V(V)-TAO complex in water-ethanol medium has been provided by Shalamova.16 TTC was selected for the present study because of its high application potential17-20 and recent interest to its ion-associa- tes.21-26 Gavazov et al.: A 2:2:2 Complex of Vanadium(V) 398 Acta Chim. Slov. 2016, 63, 392-398 2. Experimental 2. 1. Reagents and Apparatus • NH4VO3 (puriss. p.a., VEB Laborchemie Apolda) dissolved in doubly distilled water, 2 x 10-4 mol dm-3. • TAO (95%, Sigma-Aldrich Chemie GmbH) dissolved in slightly alkalized (KOH) distilled water, 3 x 10-3 mol dm-3. • TTC (p.a., Loba Feinchemie GMBH), 4.7 x 10-3 mol dm-3 aqueous solutions. • Ethanol (96%). • Chloroform (p.a.), additionally distilled. • Acetate buffer solution prepared from 2 mol dm-3 aqueous solutions of CH3COOH and NH4OH. The resulting pH was checked by Hl-83140 pH meter. • A Camspec M508 spectrophotometer (United Kingdom), equipped with 10 mm path-length cells. 2. 2. Procedure for Establishing the Optimum LLE-Spectrophotometric Conditions Aliquots of V(V) solution (1 cm3), TAO solution, buffer solution (2 cm3) and TTC solution were pipetted into 100 cm3 separatory funnels. The resulting solutions were diluted with distilled water to a total volume of 10 cm3. Then 10 cm3 of chloroform were added. The funnels were closed with stoppers and shaken for extraction. After separation of the layers, portions of the organic extracts were transferred through filter papers into cells. The absor-bances were read against respective blank samples. re A1 and A3 are the absorbances (measured against blanks), obtained after a single and triple extractions, respectively. The single extraction and the first stage of the triple extraction were performed with 10 cm3 of chloroform under the optimum extraction-spectrophotometric conditions (Table 1). The organic layers were transferred into 25 cm3 calibrated flasks and the flask for the single extraction was brought to volume with chloroform. The second stage of the triple extraction was performed by adding a 7 cm3 portion of chloroform to the aqueous phase, which remained after the first stage. The third stage was performed in the same manner. The two successive organic layers were transferred to the flask containing the organic layer obtained after the first stage. The volume was brought to the mark with chloroform and shaken for homogenization.15,27,28 3. Theoretical The ground-state equilibrium geometries of the single and dimeric complexes were optimized at the HF level using 3-21G* basis functions. Their vibration spectra were calculated in order to check for imaginary frequencies (no such vibrational eigenvalues were calculated). The stability of the complexes S and D was evaluated by the bonding and interaction energies found by the equations 1 and 2:29-31 ¿Eh = Ess (1) 2. 3. Procedure for Determining the Complex Composition in Water-ethanol Medium 1 cm3 of V(V) solution, i cm3 of TAO solution (i varies from 0.2 to 4 cm3), 2 cm3 of buffer solution (pH 5.4) and 3 cm3 of ethanol were added into test tubes with ground stoppers. The volumes were made up to 10 cm3 with distilled water. Then the tubes were closed and shaken for homogenization. Portions of the obtained solutions were transferred into cells. The absorbances were read against respective blank samples. 2. 4. Procedure for Determining the Distribution Coefficients The distribution coefficients D = Xc(V(V)org)/ Xc(V(V)) were found from the ratio D = A1/(A3-A1), whe- AE = ESS-^E?P (2) where ESS is the energy of the given complex, whereas E; and ESi P are the energies of the fragments found with 'ghost' orbitals and single-point calculations respectively with geometries as obtained by the optimizations. Thus, the basis-set superposition error (BSSE) was estimated by the equation 3: BSSE =£(^-4) (3) The theoretical calculations were performed with the GAUSSIAN 03 program package. The results were visualized with the ChemCraft program. Table 1. Extraction-spectrophotometric optimization of the V(V)-TAO-TTC-water-chloroform system Parameter Optimization range Optimal value Figure Wavelength, nm Visible range 545 Fig. 1 pH of the aqueous phase 3.7-6.7 4.8-5.2 Fig. 2 Extraction time, min 0.25-6 3 Fig. S1 Concentration of TAO, mol dm-3 (0.15-6.0) x 10-4 3.4 x 10-4 Fig. 3 Concentration of TTC, mol dm-3 (0.24-14.1) x 10-4 9.4 x 10-4 Fig. 3 Gavazov et al.: A 2:2:2 Complex of Vanadium(V) 398 Acta Chim. Slov. 2016, 63, 392-398 4. Results and Discussion 4. 1. Optimum LLE-spectrophotometric Conditions Absorption spectrum of the chloroform-extracted ternary complex is shown in Figure 1. The maximum is at X = 545 nm. It is shifted to 5 nm as compared to the maximum of the binary V(V)-TAO complex in water-ethanol medium (X = 550 nm)16 and practically coincides with that of other complexes of the type V(V)-TAO-TZ in chloroform studied in our previous paper.15 It should be mentioned that the position of this maximum is constant independently of changes in pH and concentrations of the reagents. The optimum LLE-spectrophotometric conditions are given in Table 1. The optimization experiments included varying the pH (Figure 2), time of the extraction, and concentration of the reagents (Figure 3). The concentration of V(V) in the aque- Figure 3. Absorbance of extracted complex vs concentration of the reagents (R): 1. R = TAO, c = 2 X 10-5 mol dm-3, c___= 9.4 X 10-4 mol dm-3, pH 5.0, X = 5S nm; 2. R = TTC, c mol dm-3, c = 4.0 x 10-4 mol dm-3, pH 5.1, X = 545^ T=C2 x 10-5 nm Figure 1. Absorption spectra of the ternary complex (curve 1) and blank (curve 2) in chloroform. c x 10-4 mol dm-3, c -- 2 x 10 mol dm-3, c 9.4 x 10W)nol dm-3, pH 5.0. = 4.2 ous phase was kept constant during the experiments (2 x 10-5 mol dm-3); the temperature was ca. 22 °C. 4. 2. Composition, Formula and Equation The molar ratios of the components of the ternary complex, TAO:V(V) and TTC:V(V), were determined by the mobile equilibrium method (Figure 4) which is applicable for compounds of the type AnBm, where n = m (n > 1).32 The slopes a ± SD of the obtained straight lines for n = m = 2 (Figure 4) are close to 2:1.95 ± 0.05 (straight line 1; R = TAO) and 1.96 ± 0.09 (straight line 2; R = TTC). At the same time, the corresponding slopes for n = m = 1 {1.21 ± 0.05 (R = TAO) and 1.20 ± 0.04 (R = TTC)} and n = m = 3 {2.69 ± 0.10 (R = TAO) and 2.72 ± 0.15 (R = TTC)} are far from 1 and 3. The TTC:V(V) molar ratio was determined by an independent method33 based on the effect of dilution on the 0 i-1-1-1 ■ i- 3.7 4.2 4.7 5.2 5.7 6.2 6.7 PH Figure 2. Absorbance of the complex (curve 1) and blank (curve 2) in chloroform vs pH of aqueous phase. c = 2 X 10-5 mol dm-3, c = 4.0 X 10-4 mol dm-3, c = 8.0 X 1(Fmol dm-3, X = 545 nm. TAO TTC -0.5 -I-r-*-,-.-----i-,- ■6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 Log c'R, mol dm 3 Figure 4. Determination of R-to-V(V) molar ratios by the mobile equilibrium method. The data are derived from the experimental points shown in Fig. 3. Straight line equations: (1) y = 1.95* + 9.75 (R = TAO, r2 = 0.9974); (2) y = 1.96* + 8.98 (R = TTC, r2 = 0.9824) Gavazov et al.: A 2:2:2 Complex of Vanadium(V) 398 Acta Chim. Slov. 2016, 63, 392-398 degree of dissociation. The experimental points (Figure 5) determine a straight line for TTC:V(V) = 2:2 (y = -3433x + 2587; r2 = 0.9978) and a curve for TTC:V(V) = 1:1. Therefore, the results of both methods agree well. They show that the complex has a composition of 2:2:2. Its formation and extraction can be represented with equation 4, which is consistent with the state of V(V)7 and TAO34 at the working conditions (pHopt and c ). We believe that V(V) does not change its oxidation sta^auring the complex formation.9-15 2H2VO4-(aq) + 2H2TAO(aq) + 2 TT^ ^ (TT+)2[VO2(TAO)]2 (o) + 4H2O(aq) (4) Figure 5. A straight line (1; molar ratio of 2:2, left ordinate) and a curve (2; molar ratio of 1:1, right ordinate) obtained by the dilution method. c = c , c = 3.4 X 10-4 mol dm-3, pH 5.2, X = 545 nm V(V) TTC TAO r 4. 3. Constant of Extraction and Fraction Extracted sar-Boltz method35 (Figure 6), extended by the equation 5, proposed in our previous paper15 for this kind of complexes. Kex = 0.0625 x (4/k)3 x ym x (1-y )- l v J max7 (5) The corresponding values agree very well: Log Kex = 13.47 ± 0.02 and Log Kex = 13.53 ± 0.05. The fraction extracted was calculated by the formula E% = 100 x D /(D +1), were D is the distribution coefficient foP theVoptimum extraction conditions. The following value was obtained: E = (97.9 ± 0.1)%. D was found by comparison of the absorbance values v(V) obtained after single and triple extractions: DVW = 46 ± 2 (4 replicate experiments). 4. 4. Analytical Characteristics The dependence between the concentration of V(V) and the absorbance of the extracted complex was studied under the optimum conditions (Table 1). A very good linearity was obtained in the concentration range of 0.2-4.6 |g cm-3 (r2 = 0.9998, N = 8) (Figure S2). The linear regression equation was A = 0.399 y- 0.0076, where A is the absorbance and y is the concentration of V(V) (|g cm-3). The standard deviations of the slope and intercept were 0.002 and 0.005, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantitation (LOQ), calculated as 3 and 10 times standard deviation of the intercept divided by the slope, were LOD = 0.04 |g cm-3 and LOQ = 0.14 |g cm-3. The molar absorptivity (e) and Sandell's sensitivity (SS) were e^ = 1.97 x 104 dm3 mol1 cm1 and SS545 = 2.6 x 545 10-3 cm-2, respectively. The constant of extraction was calculated by two methods: the dilution method33 (Figure 5) and the Likus- Figure 6. Determination of the constant of extraction (K ) by the Likussar-Boltz method at k = c +c = 1 X 10-4mol dm-3. c = o . , , , 3 tt ^ „ V(V) TAO TTC 9.4 X 10-4 mol dm-3, pH 5.2. 4. 5. Composition of the Binary V-TAO Complex in Water-ethanol Medium Shalamova16 provides the following scarce information about the binary V(V)-TAO complex in water-ethanol medium: pHopt = 5.0-5.5, Amax = 540 nm, and emax = 1.3 x 104 dm3 mol-1 cm-1. There is no information about the composition of the complex. In order to fill this gap we used the method of As-mus36 (Figure S3) and the mobile equilibrium method32 (Figure S4). The results show that the molar ratio between the reacting TAO and V(V) is 1:1 (not 2:2). 4. 6. Optimized Ground-state Equilibrium Geometries The ternary complex has a composition of 2:2:2 and can be regarded as obtained by dimerization of two 1:1:1 (V:PAR:TT) single complexes (see Table S1 and Refs. S10-S18). Single complexes. The optimized ground-state equilibrium geometries of two possible single complexes S1 Gavazov et al.: A 2:2:2 Complex of Vanadium(V) 398 Acta Chim. Slov. 2016, 63, 392-398 and S2 are illustrated in Figure 7. For the optimization of the first structure (S1) we started from a T-shaped structure between the anionic and cationic parts, [VO2(TAO)]-and TT+, respectively. The tetrazolium ring was initially located over the deprotonated O(8) atom. The T-shape was changed during the fully-relaxed optimization but the close distance between O(8) and the tetrazolium ring was kept: e.g. the distance O(8)-N(28) = 3.501 A. Two close interactions are observed between the fragments 1 and 2 in the complex S1. They are two weak H-bonds between the benzene ring hydrogens and the oxygen atoms of the fragment 1: H(64)-O(7) = 2.460 A and H(63)-O(18) = 2.189 A. These bonds cause a interring twist between the tetrazolium and benzene residues: