A new fluorimetric reagent for highly selective and sensitive determination of terbium ion

In this work, a new ligand, 2,9-bis[N,N-bis(carboxymethyl)-aminomethyl]-1,10-phenanthroline (BBCAP), was synthesized and used to establish a novel fluorimetric method for the determination of trace amounts of terbium in a binary system. Its luminescence mechanism was studied. The excitation and emission wavelengths are 284 nm and 547 nm, respectively. Other rare-earth metal ions in 100-fold excess caused no interference. The fluorescence intensity was a linear function of the concentration of terbium in the range of 5.0 × 10^-10 -1.0 × 10^-6 mol/L. The detection limit was 2.0 × 10^-11 mol/L (n = 12). The standard addition method was used to determine the terbium in a synthetic rare-earth sample with satisfactory results. This method represents a direct, rapid, selective and sensitive analytical procedure with a widely linear range.