Room temperature phosphorescence optosensor for anthracyclines

Abstract

A flow-through optosensor for anthracyclines based on the anthracycline–europium chelate room temperature phosphorescence energy transfer is proposed. The sensor was developed in conjunction with a flow injection analysis system and is based on the transient immobilization on a non-ionic resin (packed in a flow-through cell) of the anthracycline–europium chelate. The analytical performance characteristics of the proposed sensor for semi-automated analysis and control of very low levels of anthracycline were as follows: the detection limits for daunorubicin, doxorubicin and epirubicin were 9.0, 5.8 and 5.8 ng ml^–1, respectively, with an RSD of 1% for the determination of 0.22 mg ml^–1 of each anthracycline (n = 10). Most of the common metal ions in biological samples did not interfere, except Fe^III, which caused serious interference and should be masked with 1,10-phenanthroline. The recommended method was successfully tested for determination of anthracyclines in clinical samples (urine and pharmaceutical preparations).