| Abstract: | Beryllium (Be) is used in novel engineering applications, unfortunately the powder can inflict berylliosis. The objective of this study was to explore organic dye options that have the potential to rapidly identify Be. To this end, six fluorescent dyes were prepared in liquid solutions of varying pH and Be concentration. Of the dyes tested, only phenyfluorone (PF) was found to be responsive to fluorescent methods of Be detection. Spectral shifts indicative of Be presence using analytical spectroscopic instrumentation were determined for each solution. By analysis, PF has a notable affinity for detecting Be; wavelength shifts from 634 nm to 610 nm as well as emission intensities increases of 113.1% with the addition of 50 ppm Be were noted. An alkaline solution of pH 12.7 for the PF-Be complex was experimentally determined to have a limit of detection of 29.41 ppb Be and a limit of quantification of 117.65 ppm Be. |
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