Analytical Sciences


Abstract − Analytical Sciences, 22(4), 607 (2006).

Highly Sensitive Spectrofluorometric Determination of Trace Amounts of Mercury with a New Fluorescent Reagent, 2-Hydroxy-1-naphthaldehydene-8-aminoquinoline
Jing LI, Fang HE, and Chong-qiu JIANG
Department of Chemistry, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, China
A new fluorescent reagent, 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehydene-8-aminoquinoline (HNAAQ), was synthesized. The fluorescent reaction of this reagent with mercury was also studied. Based on this chelation, a highly sensitive spectrofluorometric method was developed for the determination of trace amounts of mercury in a water-ethanol (5 + 1, v/v) medium at pH 8.0. Under these conditions, the Hg-HNAAQ complex has excitation and emission maxima at 406 and 445 nm, respectively. The linear range of the method is from 0 to 16 µg L-1 and the detection limit is 0.056 µg L-1 of mercury. The interference of other ions was studied. In order to enhance the selectivity in the determination of mercury by the present method, we also applied the separation of mercury by distillation. Thus, the selectivity of the method could be increased remarkably. The procedure can be easily performed, and affords good precision and accuracy. This method has been successfully applied to the determination of mercury in waste water and prawns.