Fluorometric Determination of Aluminum Dissolved in Sea Water using Oxine-XAD-2 Method

Abstract

   A new method of fluorometric determination of total and organic aluminum dissolved in sea water is described. Separation of total aluminum from sea water is done by adsorption of Al-oxine complex on XAD-2 resin, and that of organic aluminum compounds is carried out by XAD-2 adsorption method using two different pH conditions of the solution; pH of natural sea water and pH 3. The determination of Al is done by measuring the fluorescence intensity of Al-oxine complex in CHCl₃ media. The recovery of this method is 97.5%, and the detection limit is 0.08 μg of Al. The standard deviation of this method is less than 3%. Results of determination of Al in the western North Pacific, Indian and Southern Oceans indicate that Al dissolved in sea water, the content of which is ranges from 0.8 to 1.2 μg 1^-1 (average 0.8 μg 1^-1), is found to be mostly inorganic forms. The results of study in coastal water off Tokai-mura, Japan, is also given in briefly.