Department of Chemistry, Sri Venkateswara University Post-Graduate Centre, Kurnool-518 001, India

Uranium(VI) forms an orange yellow soluble complex with resacetophenone (RP) in acid and alkaline media. λ_max of the complex is at 410 nm in the visible range (410–700 nm). 1 ml of the buffer (CH₃COOHCH₃COONa) solution of pH 5.85 is found optimum. A 50-fold excess of the reagent is essential for complete complexation. The complex is stable for 24 hrs. Beer's law is obeyed upto 47ppm of U(VI). The molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity with respect to U(VI) are 1.18 x 10³ l. mol^–1. cm^–1. and 0.2017 μg. cm^–2 respectively. Standard deviation evaluated is 0.2ppm. The composition of the complex is established by Job's method and Slope ratio method as 1 : 2 [U(VI) : RP]. The stability constant value evaluated from Job's curve is 1.508 x 10⁷. The effect of various diverse ions is also studied.