DETERMINATION OF TAURINE BY THE PEROXYOXA LATE CHEMILUMINESCENCE METHOD

A method is described for the determination of taurine by using the pe roxyoxalate chemiluminescence reaction. Taurine was derivatized with o -phthalaldehyde in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol in an alkali medi um. The derivatized taurine, fluorescent compound (F), was excited by 1,2-dioxethanedione, which was produced from the peroxyoxalate chemilu minescence reaction of bis(2,1,6-trichlorophenyl)oxalate and hydrogen peroxide. The excited F returned to the ground state with the emission of light. The taurine was determined by measuring the generated light , that is, chemiluminescence (CL). All of the procedures were carried out in a batchwise operation. The optimum pH, o-phthalaldehyde and 2-m ercap:oethanol concentrations for the determination of 1 X 10(-3) M ta urine were 8, 2.24 X 10(-3) M and 1.78 X 10(-4) M, respectively. A max imum CL intensity (counts per 30 s) was obtained for a period of up to about 5 min after mixing taurine and o-phthalaldehyde. The calibratio n curve was linear over the 1 X 10(-6) similar to 1 X 10(-3) M range. The correlation coefficient for this line was 0.998. The detection lim it (3 sigma) was 4.6 X 10(-7) M and the relative standard deviation wa s less than 8% (n = 6). This method was applied to the determination o f taurine in commercially available medicinal beverages.