FACILE ANALYSIS OF CARBAZOLE IN COMMERCIAL ANTHRACENE BY HEAVY ATOM–INDUCED ROOM TEMPERATURE PHOSPHORESCENCE

Abstract

The applicability of heavy atom–induced room temperature phosphorescence (HAI-RTP) in real samples is demonstrated in this work. In this methodology only two reagents, potassium iodide as heavy atom salt and sodium sulfite as oxygen scavenger, were used to obtain the phosphorescent signal of carbazole in solution while anthracene did not show phosphorescence under these experimental conditions. In this study a new simple, rapid, and selective phosphorimetric method is proposed, using HAI-RTP methodology for the determination of carbazole in high-purity anthracene. The phosphorescence intensity was measured at 438 nm with excitation at 290 nm. Phosphorescence was fully developed instantly. A linear concentration range between 0 and 250 ng/mL⁻¹ with a detection limit of 1.05 ng/mL⁻¹ (10.5 ng of CBZ in 600 ng of anthracene), an analytical sensitivity of 1.7 ng/mL⁻¹, and standard deviation of 0.71% at 150 ng/mL⁻¹ concentration level was obtained. The method has been successfully applied to the analysis of carbazole in spiked anthracene samples.

Keywords:

• anthracene
• aromatic nitrogen heterocyclic
• carbazole
• phosphorescence

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Secretaría de Estado de Educación y Universidades (Spain), Fundación UNICAJA, and Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Project PPQ2000-1291-C02-01).