Development of a chemiluminescence method for the simultaneous determination of pyruvic and tartaric acids in human serum based upon their reaction with cerium(IV) in the presence of rutheniumtrispyridine

A time-resolved chemiluminescent method for the determination of pyruvic an d tartaric acid has been developed. The method is based on the differential rate of the chemiluminescent reaction of Ru(bipy)(3)(2+), pyruvic and tart aric acid with Ce(IV). The pyruvic acid system gives the highest chemilumin escence intensity at 2 s, whereas the tartaric acid system gives its most i ntense chemiluminescence emission at 64 s. Pyruvic acid (6.0 X 10(-6) simil ar to 1.1 X 10(-8) M) and tartaric acid (3.7 X 10(-4) similar to 1.3 X 10(- 6) M) were determined simultaneously with relative standard deviations grea ter than 4.5% (n = 10). The detection limit of pyruvic acid and tartaric ac id were 7.0 x 10(-9) M and 2.7 x 10(-7) M, respectively. The method was eva luated by carrying out a recovery study in human serum. A satisfactory resu lt was obtained. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.