Time discrimination in the laser fluorimetry and ultratrace determination of europium(III) and samarium(III) with 4,4,4-trifluoro-1-(2-thienyl)-1,3-butanedione

Efficient application of time discrimination has succeeded in substantial reduction of the detection limit of laser fluorimetry. A nitrogen laser and a pulse-gated photon counting method are combined. The detection limits for europiuni(III) and samarium(III) with 4,4,4-trifluoro-1-(2-thienyl)-1,3-butanedione in solution are 0.4 pg l^-1 and 0.3 ng l^-1, respectively. The results are attributed to effective removal of the short-lived unwanted signals. This technique makes possible the ultratrace determination of a fluorescent molecule in a mixture with others by making the most of the difference of their emission lifetimes. The europium(III) complex can be determined with high selectivity and sensitivity in a large excess of the samarium(III) complex.