Development of a Rapid and Sensitive Method for the Determination of Aluminum by Reverse-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Using a Fluorescence Detector

This study represents a new analytical high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detector method for the determination of Al(III) as Al(III) complex with 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid in a tap water sample and a coke sample. A micellar liquid chromatographic method is proposed for the determination of aluminum metal in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, a cationic surfactant (0.05 M) used for the solubilization of the aluminum complex. The influence of pH and ligand concentration on the formation of the complex was studied by adding a small amount of 0.1 M sodium hydroxide. The metal chelate was detected at lambda(Ex) 410 nm and lambda(Em) 510 nm. This method eliminates the need for addition of reagent or organic modifier to the mobile phase. The complex was analyzed using an Ascentis Express C-18 column and a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile, methanol and water (55 : 30 : 15). Under the optimized conditions, the linear range was 1-200 mu g L-1 and the limit of detection was 0.05 mu g L-1. The method showed a good detector response over the range of interest and was successfully applied for the determination of trace Al(III) in canned coke and water samples containing excess of Mg(II), Ca(II) and other matrices.