A flow injection method has been developed for the determination of tannic
acid based on its inhibition of the electrochemiluminescence of luminol. Th
e method is simple, rapid and sensitive with a detection limit of 2x10(-8)
mol/l. It is effective to determine tannic acid in the range 5x10(-8) - 1x1
0(-5) mol/l. The variation coefficient of eleven determinations is 1.4% for
5x10(-6) mol/l. The method has been successfully applied to the determinat
ion of tannic acid in real Chinese gall and hop pellet samples.