Sensitive detection of dopamine using micelle-enhanced and terbium-sensitized fluorescence

Abstract

A new terbium sensitized spectrofluorimetric method was developed for the determination of trace amounts of dopamine (DA) using ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid as co-ligand and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride as sensitizer. UV absorption and fluorescent spectra were used to investigate the photophysical properties of the ternary complex. Under the optimum conditions, the enhanced fluorescence intensities of the Tb(III) complexes increased linearly with the concentration of DA over the ranges 8 × 10–8–5 × 10–5 M and the limit of detection for DA was found to be 2.4 × 10–8 M. The proposed method has been applied for the quantitative determination of DA in a pharmaceutical preparation and urine samples. The possible energy transfer mechanisms in the lanthanide complexes were discussed.