Analysis of Water Pollutants:
Let us now consider the analysis of metal pollutants like Al, Zn, and the anion, F- in the aquatic environment through fluorescence methods.
Analysis of Aluminium
Aluminium is used as coagulating agent within the procedure of purification of polluted water. Because of its toxic effects on living beings, Al represents an environmental hazard, particularly under increased acidic conditions. The growing concern over the presence of increased Al concentrations within soil solutions and fresh waters has resulted in the development of numerous analytical techniques for the determination of Al species in water. Since the concentration of aluminium in the water sample might be extremely small we, therefore, required a sensitive method for its analysis. Fluorescence measurements give for such a method.
Aluminium forms chelates along with a huge variety of chelating agents, such as, solochrome dark blue, acid alizarin red, morin (pentahydroxyflavanol), and 8- hydroxyquinoline etc. However, the most generally used fluorinating agents for aluminium are morin and oxine. At a pH of 3.3, aluminium forms complex along with morin that shows maxima at 430 nm (for excitation) and at 500 nm (for emission wavelength). As small as 0.001 µg of Al could be analysed through this method. Therefore, F- and Th4+ ions etc. show interference.