Highly sensitive and selective room-temperature phosphorescence determination of thiabendazole by the supramolecular interaction of thiabendazole/β-cyclodextrin/triton X-100

Abstract

A strong and stable room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) signal (λ_ex/λ_em = 298/481 nm) resulting from a 1 ∶ 1 ∶ 1 β-cyclodextrin (β-CD)/thiabendazole (TBZ)/triton X-100 (TX-100) supramolecular ternary inclusion complex was induced by KI as a heavy atom perturber. Based on the heavy-atom induced RTP, a new phosphorescence method for TBZ determination was established. The analytical curve of TBZ gave a linear range of 20–820 ng mL⁻¹ with a detection limit and relative standard deviation of 2.1 ng mL⁻¹ and 1.9%, respectively. The interference of 46 coexisting substances was studied. Compared with the method using a chemical oxygen scavenger, this method is simpler as deoxygenation of the solution is not required. The detection limit and the heavy-atom concentration of the proposed method were decreased about 8 and 4 times, respectively. The lifetime of the phosphorescence was prolonged 9 times and the pH range was greatly broadened. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of TBZ in tap water, lake water and pineapples.