Abstract
A method for the fluorometric determination of cadmium(II) is proposed. The metal reacts with Calcein in N, N-dimethylformamide and the cadmium(II)-Calcein complex formed presents an emission maximum at 534nm and several excitation maximum, the determination being carried out at an excitation wavelength of either 519 or 496nm. Over the range 1-70ng ml-1, the fluorescence intensity is linear with the cadmium(II) concentration; the obtained precision (relative standard deviation) is about 4%. The proposed method permits the determination of cadmium(II) at the trace level. The method was applied to the determination of cadmium in cadmium organic salts, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) thermal stabilizers and PVC polymers.