Reagentless chemiluminescence flow sensor for the determination of riboflavin in pharmaceutical preparations and human urine

Abstract

A novel continuous-flow sensor based on chemiluminescence (CL) detection was developed for the determination of riboflavin at pg ml⁻¹ levels by the immobilization of the reagents. It was found that the CL intensity from the oxidation between luminol and periodate could be enhanced in the presence of riboflavin. The increase of CL emission was correlated with the riboflavin concentration in the range from 0.04 to 200 ng ml⁻¹, and the detection limit was 0.02 ng ml⁻¹ (3s). Considering the effective reaction ions, luminol and IO₄⁻ was immobilized on anion-exchange resin. The system could produce an evident CL signal by water as eluant and it was also shown that the flow sensor could greatly improve the selectivity and sensitivity for determination of riboflavin with a high signal-to-noise ratio. A complete analysis, including sampling and washing, could be performed in 0.5 min with a relative standard deviation of less than 3.0%. The flow sensor was applied successfully to the determination of riboflavin in pharmaceutical preparations and human urine samples.