Ultraviolet spectroscopy fluorimetry

There are two main advantages in the use of fluorimetry over ultraviolet spectroscopy ... 

The presence of two monochromators, and the fact that not all molecules with a chromophore fluoresce, means that fluorimetry is more specific than ordinary ultraviolet spectroscopy. This allows drugs that fluoresce to be assayed in the presence of other compounds that would interfere in an ultraviolet assay. 

Fluorimetry is approximately fOO times more sensitive than ultraviolet spectroscopy and is ideal for the analysis of very small amounts of potent drugs. Examples are the steroids digoxin in Digoxin Tablets BP and the contraceptive agent ethinylestradiol, which is present at levels of only 30 pg per tablet. 

In many instances, visible fluorescence methods are less subject to interference by other polymer additives present in the extractant than are ultraviolet methods. Thus, Uvitex OB has an intense ultraviolet absorption at a wavelength high enough (378 nm) to be outside the region where many interfering substances in the extractant would be excited to fluoresce. Therefore, in some instances visible fluorimetry offers a method of determining an extractant constituent without interference from other constituents when this would not be possible by ultraviolet spectroscopy. 

The quality control analyses of these chemicals are performed using almost the whole range of trace analysis techniques available. Among the most important are atomic absorption spectrophotometry in all its forms, ICP emission spectrometry, and ICP mass spectroscopy, ion chromatography, gas and liquid chromatography, ultraviolet and visible absorption spectrophotometry, voltammetry, and spectro-fluorimetry. 

The derivatization of analytes is very important in several branches of analytical chemistry. It expands the fields of application of various spectroscopic techniques (ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), fluorimetry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and mass spectroscopies), and in several cases increases also the selectivity and sensitivity of these techniques. Derivatization is also an inevitable tool in all chromatographic and electrophoretic techniques. In gas chromatography (GC), the main importance of derivatization is the improvement of the volatility/thermal stability of the analytes, and in all of the discussed separation techniques it has the potential of increasing the selectivity of the separation (including enantiomeric separations) and the sensitivity of the detection. 

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