Abstract
A sensitive spectrofluorimetric procedure is described for the determination of lutetuim in high purity lanthanum, praseodymium, and dysprosium oxides. This is based on the fluorescence of the lutetium–thenoyltrifluoroacetone–salicylic acid complex. The fluorescence intensity is linear with lutetium concentration in the range 10−9–10−4, M with a detection limit of 1 × 10−10, M under the recommended concentrations. The optimized procedure is successfully utilized for the determination of ultra trace amounts of lutetium in lanthanum, praseodymium, and dysprosium oxides.