Spectrophotometric Determination of the pKa, Isosbestic Point and Equation of Absorbance vs. pH for a Universal pH Indicator

Abstract

The pKa and the isosbestic point of the universal pH indicator Carlo Ebra 1-11 (catalog number 45712) were determined using UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Aqueous buffer solutions with pHs ranging from 3.83 to 10.85 were mixed. Four methods—two graphical and two mathematical— were used to estimate the acid dissociation constant (pKa) and isosbestic point using absorbance measurements. The equation for the dependence of the absorbance on pH at <i>λ</i> = 600 nm was obtained using calibration curves. The resulting average pKa of the four methods was 8.277 with a standard deviation of 0.1728. The results obtained using the mathematical methods were very similar, with a deviation of 0.0014; the average pKa determined using these methods was 8.263 ± 0.001. The literature contains no previous reports of the pKa of this indicator. The isosbestic point occurs at a wavelength of 494 nm, with an absorbance of 0.46.