Spectrofluorimetric determination of niobium with morin enhanced by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide micelles

The effect of surfactants on the fluorescence of the niobium—morin system is described. Cationic surfactants strongly enhanced the intensity (e.g., cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) gives an 80-fold increase), while anionic and non-ionic surfactants are without effect. The formation of 1:1 and 1:3 (Nb:morin) complexes is demonstrated spectrophotometrically. The conditional stability constants for these complexes in CTAB micelles are β₁ = (1.14 ± 0.01) × 10⁴ l mol^?1 amd β₃ = (5.66 ± 0.02 × 10¹⁰ l³ mol^?3. The micellar-enhanced fluorimetric method has a 1 μg l^?1 detection limit, and is highly selective. The r.s.d. for the determination of 50 μg l^?1 Nb is 3.5%.