Spectrofluorimetric determination of trace nitrite with o-phenylenediamine enhanced by hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin

A simple and sensitive spectrofluorimetric method was developed for the determination of nitrite in environmental and food samples. The method was based on the selective reaction of o-phenylenediamine with nitrite in acidic medium to form benzotriazole, which exhibited strong fluorescence at 568 nm with excitation at 420 nm in alkaline medium. The detection limit and sensitivity of the proposed method were improved by hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin through complexation. The linear calibration range for nitrite was 0.04–0.8 μg mL−1 with a detection limit of 13.6 ng mL−1 (S/N = 3.29). The relative standard deviation for ten determinations of 0.1 and 0.4 μg mL−1 nitrite were 1.38% and 2.01%, respectively. Twenty-eight coexistent ions were examined, and no serious interference for most of ions was observed. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of nitrite in the water, sausage and soil samples with recoveries of 95.5–108.5%. The results were in good agreement with the recommended AOAC method.

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► A new spectrofluorimetric method for nitrite determination was developed.
► o-Phenylenediamine was used as a new fluorescent reagent.
► Addition of CDs could largely enhance the method sensitivity.
► The method was well validated and successfully applied for real samples analysis.