Spectrofluorimetric method for determination of aluminium with chromotropic acid and its application to water samples

A rapid and sensitive method for the trace level determination of aluminium based on the formation of a 1:1 complex with chromotropic acid (1,8-dihydroxynaphthlene-3,6-disulfonic acid) in an methanol medium is reported. The fluorescence intensity of the system was 50 times greater than that of the system without aluminium. This method is very sensitive and selective for the direct determination of aluminium ion. The fluorescence is excited at 346 nm and measured at 370 nm. The optimum conditions are a chromotropic acid concentration of 5.0 ml (1.0×10−4 M) and pH 4.0±0.5 (acetic acid–sodium acetate buffer). The fluorescence intensity is a linear function of the concentration of Al(III) in the range 2–100 ng ml−1 and the detection limit is 1.0 ng ml−1. The method has been applied successfully to the determination of trace amount of Al(III) in tap, river and sea-water samples.