Highly sensitive spectrofluorometry of europium (III) as its benzoyltrifluoroacetone complex with trioctylphosphine oxide by means of solvent extraction and vacuum sublimation

A new method for the highly sensitive fluorometric determination of europium(III) as its benzoyltrifluoroacetone (BFA) complex with trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) without uncombined BFA in n-hexane has been established by means of solvent extraction and vacuum sublimation. The effect of various factors on the fluorescence intensity of europium(III) was investigated. The fluorescence intensity was measured at 620 nm against rhodamine B as an internal standard under the excitation at 335 nm. It was found that a heating treatment gave rise to the enhancement of the fluorescence intensity for about twice times compared with that without heating treatment. Excellent linearity of the calibration curve of europium(III) was obtained in the range of 0-100 ppb. A few ppb of europium(III) can still be detected with this method. All 13 rare earth metals and cobalt(II) tested gave a somewhat positive error. Aluminium(III), iron(III), and copper(II) caused a negative error. The interference of aluminium(III) and iron(III) was removed by extraction with 0.1 mol/l 8-quinolinol in chloroform at pH 4.0, while the problem of cobalt(II) and copper(II) was solved by masking with 0.1 mol/l Na2S2O3 in aqueous solution. (orig.)