Spectroscopic study of the aluminium/lumogallion system in the presence of non-ionic surfactants

The effects of different non-ionic ethylene oxide condensate surfactants on the fluorescence and the molecular absorption of the aluminium/lumogallion system are reported. Ethylene oxide condensates with fatty alcohols give higher micellar enhancement factors than tert-octylphenols or nonylphenols; ethylene oxide/propylene oxide copolymers provide only a 50% increase in the fluorescence of the complex. The aluminium/lumogallion seems to form mixed micelles with the fatty alcohol condensates; the strong complex/micelle interaction provides increased absorbance of the complex at 500 nm and higher fluorescence enhancement, allowing the detection of 0.11 μg l^?1 aluminium.