The Use of Triton-X for the Enhancement of the Fluorescence of Zn-Salicylcarbohydrazone Chelate and its Application to Zinc Determination at Ultratrace (Part Per Trillion) Level

Abstract

An ultra-trace method based on the reaction of zinc with salicylcarbohydrazone (SACH) and Triton-X as non-ionic surfactant was developed for the fluorimetric determination of zinc present at picogram amounts. The yellow fluorescent complex is formed over a wide optimum pH range of 3.6–5. 2, in 60% ethanol medium. The detection limit is 10pg/ml, and the range of determination is 30 – 1000 pg/ml in solution. The relative standard deviations are: ±2.42% (30 – 100 pg/ml), ±1.83% (100 pg/ml – 1 ng/ml), ±0.89% (1 – 10 ng/ml), ±0.46% (10 – 100 ng/ml) and ±0.26% (100 – 1000 ng/ml). The effect of the interferences was studied and the procedure is simple, rapid and selective.

Key Words:

• Zinc
• salicylcarbohydrazone
• Triton-X
• fluorimetry
• analysis