Development of a direct chemiluminescence method for the determination of nucleic acids based upon their reaction with cerium(IV) in the presence of rutheniumtrisdipyridine

A direct chemiluminescent method for the determination of nucleic acids has been developed. The method is based on the enhancement of nucleic acids on the chemiluminescence light emission of the reaction between Ru(bipy)(3)(2 +) and Ce(IV). Under the optimum conditions, the calibration graphs are lin ear over the ranges 7.0x10(-7) - 5.0x10(-5) g/ml for calf thymus DNA, 4.0x1 0(-7) - 5.0x10(-5) g/ml for fish sperm DNA and 5.0x10(-7) - 5.0x10(-5) g/ml for yeast RNA, respectively. The limits of detection are 1.8x10(-7) g/ml f or calf thymus DNA, 1.1x10(-7) g/ml for fish sperm DNA and 1.2x10(-7) g/ml for yeast RNA, respectively. The final procedure allows the sucessful deter mination of calf thymus DNA, fish sperm DNA and yeast RNA in six synthetic samples. This method is simple, rapid and specific. A possible reaction mec hanism is discussed.