Spectrofluorimetric trace determination of terbium(III) with potassium oxalate

Potassium oxalate acts as a specific reagent in enhancing the fluorescence intensity of terbium in aqueous solutions. Maximum fluorescence intensity is obtained by irradiating (at 255 mμ) terbium(III) dissolved in 0.01 M potassium oxalate solution at pH 7.8. The enhancement and quenching phenomena caused by other lanthanides, errors in the determination, and various examples of spectrofluorimetric analysis of traces of terbium in mixtures with other lanthanides are described. The sensitivity of the method is 5·10^-2μg/ml of terbium.