Nafiseh Hajiabdollah - Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic Azad University Iauabadan, Branch, I.R. IRAN

The biological properties of the lanthanides, primarily based on their similarity to calcium, have been the basis for research into potential therapeutic applications of lanthanides since the early part of the twentieth century. In this research, a Dy(III) potentiometric membrane sensor based on procaine is described. The sensor exhibits a Nernstian response over a concentration range of 1.0 10-6 M -1.0 10-1 M, with a detection limit of 7.9 10-7 M. The best performance was achieved with a membrane composition, consisting of 30 % PVC, 63 % dibutylphthalate (DBP), 5 % procaine and 2 % sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTPB). It was found that at the pH range of 4.0-8.0, the potential response of the sensor was not affected by the pH. Furthermore, the electrode presents satisfactory reproducibility, very fast response time (<10s) and relatively good discriminating ability for Dy(III) ions with respect to many common cations and lanthanide ions. The sensor has been applied to the determination of Dy(III) in human serum.

Procaine, Potentiometric Sensor, Dysprosium, PVC membrane, Human serum