A new chemiluminescence system: MnO(-)(4)-Na(2)CO(3)-KOH and its application in the determination of manganese

A new, fast and simple inorganic chemiluminescence method for the determination of trace amounts of manganese is described. When MnO(-)(4) is injected into 0.40M Na(2)CO(3)-0.70M KOH mixed solution in a reaction cell, the strong chemiluminescence occurs and is recorded. The detection limit is 0.1 ppb Mn and the linear range extends from 0.1 to 10 ppb Mn. A 5-ppb Mn concentration can be determined with a relative standard deviation of 5.6% (15 replicates). The commonly encountered cations do not interfere with the determinations. This method has been successfully applied to the direct determination of manganese in bauxite. The reaction mechanism is also briefly discussed.