Fluorimetric determination of 1-naphthol and mixtures of carbaryl and 1-naphthol in micellar media

Summary The interaction of 1-naphthol with different types of anionic, cationic and non-ionic surfactants has been studied spectrofluorimetrically in order to obtain a sensitivity enhancement in the determination of this compound. At neutral pH, cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) provides a 2-fold sensitivity enhancement of 1-naphthol and exhibits a weak interaction with carbaryl. In strong alkaline medium carbaryl is hydrolyzed to 1-naphthol and in the presence of CTAB micells, a 5-fold sensitivity enhancement and a limit of detection of 0.2 g·ml^–1 with a 101±3% percentage of recovery is obtained. These facts permit the development of an accurate method for the fluorimetric analysis of 1-naphthol and carbaryl mixtures, comprising the determination of the sum of both compounds (pH 12, 0.1% w/v CTAB, _em=449 nm, _ex=341 nm) and of the concentration of 1-naphthol (neutral pH, 0.4% w/v CTAB, _em=449 nm, _ex=312 nm).