[Fluorescence reaction of terbium(III) ion and norepinephrine and its analytical application]

Experiments indicated that terbium(III) ion could form complex with norepinephrine, then emitted its characteristic fluorescence. In the present paper, the fluorescence reaction of terbium(III) ion with norepinephrine was studied in detail. Thus a new method for the determination of norepinephrine was propsed. The fluorescence intensity was measured in a 1 cm quartz cell with the excitation and emission wavelengths of 300 and 545 nm, respectively. The result showed that the fluorescence intensity of the system presented a linear relationship with the concentration of norepinephrine in the range of 0.01-50 microg x mL(-1), and the detection limit (S/N=3) was 1.0 ng x mL(-1). The method was used to determine pharmaceutical sample which contained norepinephrine, and the result was satisfactory.