Detection in the liquid phase applying chemiluminescence

Several chemiluminescence-based reactions are applicable to the determinati on of various bio-pharmaceutically important analytes, and they can be appl ied for monitoring chemiluminescence emission using flow injection, liquid chromatographic and capillary electrophoretic analysis, as well as for the development of chemiluminescence-based sensors or in immunoassays. As in ge neral the emission intensity is linearly proportional to the concentration of any of the reagents, the technique allows the analysis of different spec ies involved in the light-producing reaction, amongst which are the chemilu minescent reagent, oxidants, inhibitors, cofactors, catalysts, some fluorop hore, etc. The present overview illustrates some important applications of the last decade on this rather unfamiliar luminescence technique to detecti onal challenges in the liquid phase. The required instrumentation is limite d as no external light source is needed. Also, the technique opens perspect ives for increasing detection sensitivity in miniaturized flowing streams. On the other hand, several drawbacks still limit full application, eg depen dence of the emission signal upon a number of environmental factors forcing the analyst to make a compromise between separating and measuring conditio ns, a lack of selectivity in specific cases, the critical detection of the signal at strictly defined periods, especially in the case of sharp emissio n vs time profiles, and the development of detection devices in capillary e lectrophoresis. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.