Extractive fluorimetric determination of ultratraces of lead with 18-crown-6 and eosin.

A highly sensitive and selective spectrofluorimetric procedure for the determination of lead in the range 0.003-0.5 ppm, based on solvent extraction of the ion-pair formed between the eosinate anion and the cationic complex of Pb(2+) with 18-crown-6, has been developed. The relative standard deviation is 3.7% at the 0.1 ppm level. The metal :ligand: counter-ion molecular ratio in the ion-pair extracted is 1:1:1, but aggregation of the complex may occur in the organic phase. The system proposed is exceptionally selective for extraction of lead in the presence of other cations frequently associated with it. The proposed method has been tested in the determination of lead in tap water. The results show good agreement with those found by the more common extractive atomic-absorption method using ammonium tetramethylenedithiocarbamate.