Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence of Tris(dibenzoylmethane)phenanthroline Europium(III) as a Light Source: An Application for the Detection of PO43− Based on the Ion Associate Formation of Phosphomolybdic Acid and Malachite Green

We demonstrate that electorogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of an organometallic Eu(III) complex, tris(dibenzoylmethane)phenanthroline europium(III), whose emission spectra is very sharp with the maximum wavelength of 612 nm, can be used as a light source for the detection of PO43− based on changing the absorbance of the ion associate of malachite green (MG+) and phosphomolybdic acid. The ECL was also applied to measure the absorbance of MG+. With the detection system we established, absorbance up to ∼1.6 with a change of ∼0.1 could be detected.