Determination of sulfite in sugar and sulfur dioxide in air by chemiluminescence using the Ru(bipy)32+–KBrO3 system

Abstract

A chemiluminescence (CL) detection method for the determination of sulfite using the reaction of Ru(bipy)₃²⁺ (bipy = 2,2′-bipyridyl)–SO₃^2––KBrO₃ is described. The concentration of sulfite is proportional to the CL intensity in the range 2.5 × 10^–8–9.5 × 10^–5 mol l^–1. The limit of detection is 3.8 × 10^–9 mol l^–1 and the relative standard deviation is 4.6% for 5 × 10^–5 mol l^–1 sulfite solution with nine repeated measurements. This method was successfully applied to the determination of sulfite in sugar and sulfur dioxide in air by using triethanolamine as the absorbent material.