Fluorimetric determination of traces of europium(III) using a new chelator and acetate or phosphate in dimethylsulfoxide as enhancers

Abstract

A new Schiff-base ligand [N, N′, N″-Tri- (2,4-dihydroxyacetophenone) – triaminotriethylamine (TDATA)] with a tripodal structure was synthesized. Its fluorescence intensity with the europium(III) complex was increased about 178-fold in the presence of sodium acetate (NaAc) and about 126-fold in the presence of sodium phosphate (Na3PO4) solution. After adding the organic solvent dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) to the above system, which leads to Eu3+ the fluorescence was further enhanced about 12-fold. Spectrofluorimetric determination of trace amounts of Eu3+ based on the phenomenon was performed. The excitation and emission wavelength is 365 nm and 615 nm, respectively. Under optimum conditions, the fluorescence intensities vary linearly with the concentration of Eu3+ in the range of 4.9 × 10−12–3.2 × 10−6 mol · L−1 with a detection limit of 4.5 × 10−12 mol · L−1 (for the TDATA-NaAc-DMSO system) or 6.2 × 10−11–8.6 × 10−6 mol · L−1 with a detection limit of 6.0 × 10−11 mol · L−1 (for the TDATA-Na3PO4-DMSO system). Interferences of some rare earth metals and other inorganic ions are described. The method is a selective, sensitive, rapid and simple analytical procedure for the determination of europium(III) in a high purity yttrium oxide and synthetic sample. The mechanism for the fluorescence enhancement is also discussed.