Estimation of Eu3+ in bulk uranium by ligand sensitized fluorescence in dimethyl sulphoxide

• Fluorescence of europium ion complexed with thenoyltrifluoroacetone is studied in dimethyl sulphoxide medium.
• The quenching of europium ion fluorescence by uranium was studied in different medium and found to be less in DMSO.
• Estimation of europium ion concentration of 0.6 μg/g in uranium is demonstrated in DMSO.

Ligand sensitized fluorescence of europium ion using thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA) as a sensitizing ligand and dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) as a solvent is studied for the first time. TTA ligand enhances the fluorescence of Eu3+ by a factor of 40000 in DMSO. Linearity is obtained for a concentration range of 0.076–7.6 ng/mL of Eu3+ with a detection limit of 7.6 pg/mL. The quenching of Eu3+-TTA fluorescence by uranium matrix was studied in different solvents and found to be less in DMSO. Consequently, estimation of Eu3+ in a large excess of uranium becomes a possibility without the need to separate uranium from the solution, which has been demonstrated in this paper. Satisfactory results are obtained when Eu3+ is present at a concentration of 0.6 μg/g in uranium.

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