Indirect chemiluminescence detection for capillary zone electrophoresis of monoamines and catechol using luminol-K3[Fe(CN)6] system

Determination of folic acid by capillary zone electrophoresis with indirect chemiluminescence detection

A capillary electrophoresis method with on-line inhibited chemiluminescence (CL) detection was first used to determine folic acid (FA). This method was established based on the quenching effect of FA on the CL reaction of luminol with a Ag(iii) complex in alkaline medium. The separation was conducted with a 20.0 mM sodium borate buffer containing 1.0 mmol L^-1 luminol. Under optimized conditions, FA was baseline separated and detected in less than 10 min. The limit of detection of FA was 1.3 mg L^-1, with a linear range of 5.0-150.0 mg L^-1 (r = 0.9953). The RSD value was 2.8% for intra-day precision and 5.4% inter-day precision. The recoveries of the standard addition of tablets and human urine ranged from 90.3% to 107.5% and from 82.0 to 105.7%, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to determine FA contents in commercial pharmaceutical tablets and human urine samples. Results suggested that this method was simple and robust.

Capillary electrophoresis chemiluminescence assay of naphthol isomers in human urine and river water using Ni(IV) complex-luminol system

A capillary electrophoresis method involving online indirect chemiluminescence (CL) detection was used to determine naphthol (NAP) isomers. The method was based on the quenching effect of 1- and 2-NAP on a new CL reaction of luminol with Ni(IV) complex in an alkaline medium. Separation was conducted with a 25.0 mM sodium borate buffer containing 0.8 mmol/L luminol. Under optimized conditions, 1- and 2-NAP were baseline separated and detected in less than 8 min. The limits of detection of 1- and 2-NAP were 3.1 and 2.7 μg/L, respectively (S/N = 3), with a linear range of 4.0-80.0 μg/L (r > 0.995). Analysis of real samples demonstrated that the spiked recoveries were in the range of 89.2-107.5% (n = 3). The proposed method was successfully used to determine 1- and 2-NAP contents in three environmental water samples and 14 human urine samples. No derivatization or tedious pretreatment was required in the analysis. The proposed method is a potential approach for routine tests of naphthol isomers in a facile CE-CL system.

In situ derivatization-ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for the determination of neurotransmitters in Parkinson's rat brain microdialysates by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Simultaneous monitoring of several neurotransmitters (NTs) linked to Parkinson's disease (PD) has important scientific significance for PD related pathology, pharmacology and drug screening. A new simple, fast and sensitive analytical method, based on in situ derivatization-ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (in situ DUADLLME) in a single step, has been proposed for the quantitative determination of catecholamines and their biosynthesis precursors and metabolites in rat brain microdialysates. The method involved the rapid injection of the mixture of low toxic bromobenzene (extractant) and acetonitrile (dispersant), which containing commercial Lissamine rhodamine B sulfonyl chloride (LRSC) as derivatization reagent, into the aqueous phase of sample and buffer, and the following in situ DUADLLME procedure. After centrifugation, 50μL of the sedimented phase (bromobenzene) was directly injected for ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) detection in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. This interesting combination brought the advantages of speediness, simpleness, low matrix effects and high sensitivity in an effective way. Parameters of in situ DUADLLME and UHPLC-MS/MS conditions were all optimized in detail. The optimum conditions of in situ DUADLLME were found to be 30μL of microdialysates, 150μL of acetonitrile containing LRSC, 50μL of bromobenzene and 800μL of NaHCO3-Na2CO3 buffer (pH 10.5) for 3.0min at 37°C. Under the optimized conditions, good linearity was observed with LODs (S/N>3) and LOQs (S/N>10) of LRSC derivatized-NTs in the range of 0.002-0.004 and 0.007-0.015 nmol/L, respectively. It also brought good precision (3.2-12.8%, peak area CVs%), accuracy (94.2-108.6%), recovery (94.5-105.5%) and stability (3.8-8.1%, peak area CVs%) results. Moreover, LRSC derivatization significantly improved chromatographic resolution and MS detection sensitivity of NTs when compared with the reported studies through the introduction of a permanent charged moiety from LRSC into NTs. Taken together, this in situ DUADLLME method was successfully applied for the simultaneous determination of six NTs in biological samples.

Highly sensitive analysis of four hemeproteins by dynamically-coated capillary electrophoresis with chemiluminescence detector using an off-column coaxial flow interface

Dynamic coating of the surface in capillary electrophoresis with chemiluminescence detection (CE-CL) using an off-column coaxial flow interface for the determination of four hemeproteins was developed. This method is based on the luminol-hydrogen peroxide reaction catalyzed by metalloproteins in alkaline medium. The experimental setup of the CE-CL system with the proposed off-column coaxial interface was evaluated by separation and detection of dopamine and catechol based on inhibition of the luminol-potassium ferricyanide reaction. Highly efficient separation of the two model compounds with symmetrical peak shape and satisfactory reproducibility was achieved by using this interface. In addition, in order to obtain a good resolution for hemeproteins, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) combined with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were introduced as dynamic modifiers to reduce the unwanted adsorption of non-specific protein. Several parameters affecting the CE separation and CL detection were investigated in detail. Under the optimized conditions, a mixture of the four hemeproteins (horseradish peroxidase (HRP), catalase (Cat), myoglobin (Mb) and cytochrome C (Cyt C)) could be well separated within 20 min. The linear ranges of the four proteins were 5.7 × 10(-8) to 1.1 × 10(-6) mol L(-1) for HRP, 4.0 × 10(-8) to 2.0 × 10(-6) mol L(-1) for Cat, 1.1 × 10(-10) to 5.6 × 10(-8) mol L(-1) for Mb, and 3.8 × 10(-7) to 7.7 × 10(-6) mol L(-1) for Cyt C. The limits of detection (LODs) (S/N = 3) for HRP, Cat, Mb and Cyt C were 2.2 × 10(-8) mol L(-1) (104.5 amol), 1.6 × 10(-8) mol L(-1) (74 amol), 5.6 × 10(-11) mol L(-1) (0.26 amol), and 1.95 × 10(-7) mol L(-1) (0.89 fmol), respectively. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the analysis of low-level Mb in a spiked human urine sample and the recoveries were above 97%. Our primary result demonstrated that the proposed CE-CL method has great potential for Mb determination in clinical diagnosis.

Luminescent ZnO quantum dots for sensitive and selective detection of dopamine

Water-soluble and luminescent ZnO quantum dots (QDs) capped by (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) are environment-friendly with strong photoluminescence (max. wavelength: 530 nm). Interestingly, it was found that the fluorescence could be quenched by dopamine (DA) directly. On the basis of above, a novel ZnO QDs based fluorescent probe has been successfully designed to detect DA with high selectivity and sensitivity. Moreover, the possible fluorescence quenching mechanism was proposed, which showed that the quenching effect may be caused by the electron transfer from ZnO QDs to oxidized dopamine-quinone. Under optimum conditions, the relative fluorescence intensity was linearly proportional to the concentration of DA within the range from 0.05 to 10 μM, with the detection limit down to 12 nM (n=3). Also, the selectivity experiment indicated the probe had a high selectivity for DA over a number of possible interfering species. Finally, this method was successfully used to detect DA in serum samples with quantitative recoveries (99-110%). With excellent selectivity and high sensitivity, it is believed that the ZnO QDs based fluorescent probe has a potential for the practical application in clinical analysis.

Highly sensitive trivalent copper chelate-luminol chemiluminescence system for capillary electrophoresis detection of epinephrine in the urine of smoker

Epinephrine (EP) is one of the most important neurotransmitters and hormones. Some previous literatures show that there is a close relation between its release and smoking. To compare the levels of EP in urines of smokers and nonsmokers, a sensitive chemiluminescence (CL) system, luminol-diperiodatocuprate (III) (K(5)[Cu(HIO(6))(2)], DPC), has been developed and validated for the determination of EP after CE separation. The DPC-luminol-EP CL reaction showed very intensive emission and fast kinetic characteristics, thus led to a high sensitivity in the flow-through detection mode for capillary electrophoresis. With the peak height as a quantitative parameter, the relative CL intensity was linear with the EP concentration in the range of 2.0-400ng/mL, with a limit of detection of 0.82ng/mL (S/N=3). The reproducibility was assessed by intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations (RSDs) for 11 replicate determinations of EP standard samples at low, medium and high concentrations. The intra- and inter-day RSDs for CL signals were 5.5%-6.6% and 6.1%-7.5%, respectively, and those for migration times were 3.4%-5.8% and 4.3%-6.3%, respectively. The presented method was successfully applied to the determination of EP in EP injection and urine samples of smokers and nonsmokers. The recovery test results for urine samples ranged from 86.5 to 112.0%, which demonstrated the reliability of this method. The results for urine sample detection indicate that the average level of EP in the urines of the smoker group is obviously higher than that in the urines of the nonsmoker group, which may demonstrate that smoking can stimulate the release of EP in human body.

Trivalent copper chelate-luminol chemiluminescence system for highly sensitive CE detection of dopamine in biological sample after clean-up using SPE

A transition metal chelate unstable at a high oxidation state, diperiodatocuprate (III) (K₅[Cu(HIO₆)₂], DPC), was synthesized and applied in the luminol-based chemiluminescence (CL) system for highly sensitive CE end-column detection of dopamine (DA). This method was based on the fact that DA enhanced the CL emission resulting from the reaction between luminol and DPC in alkaline medium. The DPC-luminol-DA CL system showed very intensive emission and very fast kinetic characteristics, thus resulting in a high sensitivity in flow-through detection mode for CE. Under optimal conditions, the linear range was 1.0 × 10⁻⁸-5.0 × 10⁻⁵ g/mL (R² = 0.9984) with a limit of detection of 6.0 × 10⁻⁹ g/mL (S/N = 3). The RSDs of the peak height and the migration time were about 4.2 and 2.4% for a standard sample at 3.0 × 10⁻⁶ g/mL (n = 5), respectively. The presented method has been successfully used for the determination of DA in commercial preparation and human urine samples after clean-up using SPE.

Quantum dot-enhanced chemiluminescence detection for simultaneous determination of dopamine and epinephrine by capillary electrophoresis

A sensitive method based on quantum dot (QD)-enhanced capillary electrophoresis-chemiluminescence (CE-CL) detection was developed for simultaneous determination of dopamine (DA) and epinephrine (E). In this work, CdTe QD was added into the running buffer of CE to catalyze the post-column CL reaction between luminol and hydrogen peroxide, achieving higher CL emission. Negative peaks were produced due to the inhibitory effects on CL emission from DA and E eluted from the electrophoretic capillary. The decrease in CL intensity was proportional to the concentration of DA and E in the range of 8.0 × 10(-8)-5.0 × 10(-6)M and 4.0 × 10(-8)-5.0 × 10(-6)M, respectively. Detection limits for DA and E were 2.3 × 10(-8)M and 9.3 × 10(-9)M, respectively. Using this method, the levels of DA and E in human urine from healthy donors were determined.

A simple and sensitive CE method for the simultaneous determination of catecholamines in urine with in-column optical fiber light-emitting diode-induced fluorescence detection

A simple and sensitive method has been developed for simultaneous analysis of three catecholamines: dopamine (DA), epinephrine (EP) and norepinephrine (NE) in urine by capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled with in-column fiber-optic light-emitting diode-induced fluorescence detection (ICFO-LED-IFD). Fluorescein isothiocyanate was used as the fluorescence tagged reagent for derivatization of DA, EP and NE. The CE conditions for separation of these catecholamines were systematically investigated. It was found that catecholamines could be more effectively separated by adding β-cyclodextin (β-CD) and acetonitrile (ACN) to a background electrolyte (BGE) of sodium borate. The migration times are 10.61, 10.83 and 11.14 min for DA, EP and NE, respectively and the catecholamines are completely separated within 11.5 min under the optimal condition of a BGE containing 10% v/v ACN, 20 mM β-CD and 20 mM sodium borate (pH 9.5), and an applied voltage of 13 kV. The relative standard deviations of migration time and peak area for these catecholamines are less than 0.16 and 2.0%, respectively. The limit of quantifications (LOQs) for DA, EP and NE are 3.5, 1.0 and 3.1 nM whereas the limit of detections (LODs) for DA, EP and NE are 1.0, 0.3 and 0.9 nM, respectively. Our proposed CE method provides low LOQ and LOD values. This CE-ICFO-LED-IFD methodology has been successfully applied to analyze catecholamines in human urine samples with good accuracy and satisfactory recovery.

Electrogenerated ferrate(VI) for CE-chemiluminescence detection to determine benzenediol isomers

Based on the quenched chemiluminescence intensity of the luminol reaction sensitized by ferrate(VI) in alkaline medium, a novel CE with on-line inhibited method for the simultaneous analysis of benzenediol isomers was developed. The ferrate(VI) solution was freshly prepared by electrochemical technique before electrophoresis. The parameters influencing detection and separation were carefully investigated. Baseline separation of benzenediols including catechol, resorcinol, and hydroquinone was achieved in less than 8 min with 5.0 mmol/L sodium tetraborate and 2.0 mmol/L luminol at an applied voltage of 18 kV. The LODs (S/N=3) for catechol, resorcinol and hydroquinone were determined to be 8.5 x 10(-9), 8.0 x 10(-7) and 6.5 x 10(-9) mol/L, respectively. Finally, the proposed method was applied for phenolic compounds in hair dye.

Enhancement of chemiluminescence of the KIO4-luminol system by gallic acid, acetaldehyde and Mn2+: application for the determination of catecholamines

Chemiluminescence (CL) from the oxidation of luminol with potassium periodate in strong alkaline solutions was greatly enhanced by the combined effect of gallic acid, acetaldehyde and Mn(2+). The CL spectra exhibited only one emission band at 425 nm, indicating 3-aminophthalate as the emitting species. Various scavengers for superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical and singlet oxygen quenched the CL emission very efficiently (74-100%), suggesting the possible involvement of these reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the CL reactions. It is postulated that oxidation of gallic acid and acetaldehyde by periodate catalyzed by Mn(2+) generates these ROS, which then react with luminol to enhance the CL emission. We also found that the enhanced CL emission was strongly inhibited by catecholamines, probably because of their effective scavenging of ROS. Based on this observation, a simple, rapid and sensitive new CL method was developed for the determination of catecholamines. The detection limits (3sigma) for dopamine, l-dopa, norepinephrine and epinephrine were 0.63, 1.37, 0.56 and 14.3 nmol/L, respectively. The linear range was 1-10 nmol/L; relative standard deviations were 0.71-1.34% for 0.1 micromol/mL catecholamines. This CL method was applied to the determination of catecholamines in pharmaceutical injections with satisfactory results.

End-column chemiluminescence detection for pressurized capillary electrochromatographic analysis of norepinephrine and epinephrine

A simple and convenient end-column chemiluminescence (CL) detection coupled to pressurized capillary electrochromatography (pCEC) was described. Luminol and N-(4-aminobutyl)-N-ethylisoluminol (ABEI) were adopted as mode compounds to evaluate the feasibility of end-column reactor. Detailed analysis of ABEI revealed that the high sensitivity could be obtained with the reactor. Furthermore, determination of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EP), which were labeled with ABEI, was accomplished by using the end-column pCEC-CL detection based on ABEI-potassium ferricyanide-alkaline medium CL reaction system. Under the optimum conditions, the detection limit (S/N=3) of NE and EP was 0.08 microM and 0.06 microM, respectively. The proposed method has also been successfully applied to the analysis of adrenaline hydrochloride injection sample.

Capillary electrophoretic immunoassay for alpha-fetoprotein with chemiluminescence detection

A capillary electrophoretic immunoassay with chemiluminescence detection (CEIA-CL) using a non-competitive format for analyzing tumor marker alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has been developed. In this method, antigen (Ag) AFP reacts with an excess amount of horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-labeled antibody (Ab*). The free Ab* and the bound Ab*-Ag complex produced in the solution are separated by CE in a separation capillary. Then they catalyze the reaction of enzyme substrate luminol and H(2)O(2) in a reaction capillary following the separation capillary. Parameters affecting the CE separation and CL detection were investigated. Under the optimal conditions, the free Ab* and the Ab*-Ag complex were well separated within 4 min, the linear range and the detection limit (S/N=3) for AFP were 5-500 ng/ml and 0.85 ng/ml (1.2 x 10(-11)M), respectively. The proposed method has been applied satisfactorily in the analysis of human sera samples.

Determination of catecholamines by CE with direct chemiluminescence detection

A rapid and sensitive method to detect three catecholamines, isoprenaline, epinephrine, and dopamine, by CE coupled with direct luminol-potassium periodate chemiluminescence (CL) detection is described. The conditions for CE separation and CL reaction were systematically optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the baseline separation of three catecholamines was achieved within 6.5 min. The LODs obtained in standard solution were 5.3 x 10(-8 )mol/L for isoprenaline, 4.7 x 10(-8 )mol/L for epinephrine, and 1.5 x 10(-7 )mol/L for dopamine. The RSD of the migration time and peak area were less than 1.8 and 3.6% (n = 5), respectively. The present method was applied to the determination of the dopamine in urine samples of cigarette smokers and nonsmokers. The results obtained indicate that there is a close relationship between the content of dopamine in human urine and the amount of cigarettes smoked daily; the level of dopamine in smokers is higher than in nonsmokers.

Simultaneous determination of benserazide and levodopa by capillary electrophoresis–chemiluminescence using an improved interface

A capillary electrophoresis coupling with indirect chemiluminescence detection method for the simultaneous determination of benserazide and levodopa has been developed. The detection interface was improved to simplify the capillary electrophoresis-chemiluminescence (CE-CL) system and the features of this improved interface were illustrated in this paper. The CE-CL conditions for the simultaneous determination of benserazide and levodopa were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the CL intensity was linear with concentrations of levodopa in the range of 1.0 to 100.0 microg ml(-1), and benserazide in the range of 10.0 to 1,000 microg ml(-1), respectively. The detection limits (S/N=3) in turn were 1.85 microg ml(-1) for BS and 0.12 microg ml(-1) for L-dopa with relative standard deviations of less than 3%. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of benserazide and levodopa in medopar tablets and spiked urine samples, demonstrating the feasibility and reliability of the proposed method.

Recent advances in methods for the analysis of catecholamines and their metabolites

Catecholamines, for example epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine, are widely distributed and are important neurotransmitters and hormones in mammalian species. Several methods have been developed for analysis of catecholamines and related compounds. Determination of catecholamines in biological fluids has enabled us to clarify the physiological role played by these amines. Catecholamine levels in plasma and/or urine are also useful for diagnosis of several diseases, for example hypertension, pheochromocytoma, and neuroblastoma. This review covers reports from 2000 to the present of methods for the analysis of catecholamines and their metabolites.