A novel fluorescent distinguished probe for Cr (VI) in aqueous solution

Salicylaldehyde rhodamine B hydrazone (SRBH) was developed as a new spectrofluorimetric probe for the selective and sensitive detection of CrO₄²⁻ in acidic conditions. The proposed method was based on the special oxidation reaction between non-fluorescent SRBH by potassium dichromate to produce a highly fluorescent rhodamine B, as a product. Under the optimum conditions described, the fluorescence enhancement at 591 nm was good linearly related to the concentration of CrO₄²⁻ from 1.0 × 10⁻⁸ to 3.0 × 10⁻⁷ M (0.42–12.6 ng mL⁻¹) with a correlation coefficient of R² = 0.9989 (n = 10) and a detection limit of 1.5 × 10⁻⁹ M (0.063 ng mL⁻¹). The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) was 2.0% (n = 6). The proposed method was also successfully applied to the determination of chromium (VI) in drinking water, river water and synthetic samples.