Mitigating phosphate interference in bacterial endospore detection by Tb dipicolinate photoluminescence

A new technique for the detection of bacterial endospores using terbium dipicolinate photoluminescence has been previously reported in the literature. The performance of this technique is adversely affected by the presence of substances that contain phosphate ions. This deficiency must be overcome before this method can be used as a viable means of detecting bacterial endospores. We have experimentally investigated methods for mitigating the phosphate problem and demonstrate that the addition of AlCl3 is a solution to the problem. Proper experimental procedures for this method are also presented.