Kalman filtering-aided time-resolved solid-surface room temperature phosphorimetry for simultaneous determination of tetracyclines in solution

Tetracycline, chlortetracycline and oxytetracycline react with Eu (III) to form complexes which exhibit analytically useful room temperature phosphorescence (RTP). The RTP features of the three complexes are similar and the RTP spectra completely overlap. However, their three phosphorescence decay rates are quite different. These differences are utilized here to analyze the time-resolved RTP data by Kalman filtering. Simultaneous quantification of all the three complexes is demonstrated and a method is proposed for the simultaneous determination of the three tetracyclines in mixtures by RTP optosensing. Analytical errors observed are within ± 5%.