Abstract：In the medium of boric acid-borax buffer solution and with the presence of surfactant Tween 80, trace yttrium ions could significantly increase the fluorescence intensity of calcein. Consequently, a novel system for determination of trace yttrium was proposed. The spectral characteristic of fluorescence system was investigated, and such influence factors on the reaction were discussed as the influence of reagent amount, acidity, temperature, time and coexisting ions. Experiments results indicated that the maximum excitation (λex) and emission wavelengths (λem) of the system were 492 and 512 nm respectively. The yttriumcontent in the range of 0.04-2.0 μg/mL had excellent linear relationship with △F, and its regression equation was △F=2.384ρ+3.264 8 with correlation coefficient of 0.996 1. Detection limit of this method was 0.023 μg/mL. The method was applied to the determination of yttrium in cerium acetate. The results were consistent with those obtained by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs, n=6)were 1.4%-2.1%.
