Fluorescence Quenching of Carbazole by Selected Phenols in a Cationic Micellar System of Cetyltrimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB)

A group of selected phenols i.e., picric acid, p-Nitrophenol, m-Nitrophenol, o-Nitrophenol, and phenol interactions were studied with a fluorescent probe carbazole in a micellar system of CTAB. CTAB concentration was optimized for maximum quenching of carbazole for each studied phenol. Interaction was studied in 0.02 and 0.1 mol/dm(3) CTAB. All the studied phenols resulted in the quenching of carbazole in both CTAB concentrations though lower CTAB concentration was found optimum for highest quenching of the probe carbazole. Carbazole fluorescence quenching with phenols were explained with the help of Stern-Volmer equation that produced the constants of Stern-Volmer (K-sv). K-sv shows the sensitiveness of the method for the studied phenol and were observed in the order picric acid > phenol > m-Nitrophenol > p-Nitrophenol > o-Nitrophenol. Detection threshold (DT) and quantification threshold (QT) were observed in the order 1.76 x 10(-7) - 6.30 x 10(-7) mol/dm(3) and 5.898 x 10(-7) - 2.11 x 10(-6) mol/dm(3) respectively. The method is reproducible and is effective for the determination of studied phenols in the samples.