Enhancing fluorescence intensity of Ellagic acid in Borax–HCl–CTAB micelles

Ellagic acid (C14H6O8), a naturally occurring phytochemical, found mainly in berries and some nuts, has anticarcinogenic and antioxidant properties. It is found that fluorescence of Ellagic acid (EA) is greatly enhanced by micelle of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant. Based on this effect, a sensitive proposed fluorimetric method was applied for the determination of Ellagic acid in aqueous solution. In the Borax–HCl buffer, the fluorescence intensity of Ellagic acid in the presence of CTAB is proportional to the concentration of Ellagic acid in range from 8.0 × 10−10 to 4.0 × 10−5 mol L−1; and the detection limits are 3.2 × 10−10 mol L−1 and 5.9 × 10−10 mol L−1 excited at 266 nm and 388 nm, respectively. The actual samples of pomegranate rinds are simply manipulated and satisfactorily determined. The interaction mechanism studies argue that the negative EA–Borax complex is formed and solubilized in the cationic surfactant CTAB micelle in this system. The fluorescence intensity of EA enhances because the CTAB micelle provides a hydrophobic microenvironment for EA–Borax complex, which can prevent collision with water molecules and decrease the energy loss of EA–Borax complex.