N-oxalylamine(salicylaldehyde hydrazone) as an analytical fluorimetric reagent for the determination of nanogram amounts of aluminium

Abstract

The synthesis, characteristics and analytical applications of N-oxalylamine(salicylaldehyde hydrazone), OSH, are described. The Al(III)-OSH system was studied and a spectrofluorimetric method is proposed for the determination of Al in a medium of water-dimethylformamide (1 + 1) at pH 3.7. Under these conditions the complex has excitation and emission maxima at 387 and 474 nm, respectively. The detection limit is 5 p.p.b. and Al can be determined up to 160 p.p.b. Interferences were evaluated; Ga(III), In(III), Sb(III) and Zr(IV) gave the greatest perturbations. The method has been applied to the determination of aluminium in mineral waters.