FLUOROMETRIC FLOW-THROUGH SENSOR FOR ALUMINUM SPECIATION

A fluorimetric flow-through integrated sensor for aluminium based on C-18 packed in a flow-cell located in a conventional spectrofluorimeter is reported. The sensor is suitable for aluminium speciation thanks to the aid of an appropriate flow-injection manifold where a modification of the Driscoll methodology based on the use of a fluorimetric reagent is accomplished in an automatic way. Three forms of aluminium (i.e., acid reactive aluminium, total monomeric aluminium, and non-labile monomeric aluminium) can be determined and two other forms (i.e., acid soluble and labile monomeric) can be calculated as the difference by injecting three sample aliquots into the continuous system and making use of an in-line ion-exchange microcolumn. The overall system is applied to aluminium speciation in different types of water.