SPECTROFLUOROMETRIC DETERMINATION OF GERMANIUM TRACES USING 1,2,4-TRIHYDROXYANTRAQUINONE

A new spectrofluorimetric method for determination of germanium traces based on its reaction with 1,2,4-Trihydroxyantraquinone, at an appare nt pH 8.8 provided by an ammonia/ammonium chloride buffer, in a 80:20 (v/v) ethyleneglycol water medium is proposed. The calibration graph i s linear over the range 70-725 ng/ml and features a detection limit of 2.5 ng/ml. The effect of potential major interferences has been inves tigated and the proposed method was successfully applied to the determ ination of germanium in synthetic samples and industrial concentrates, after extraction with CCl4, in an 9 M HCl medium.