title: Flow-injection analysis for the determination of total inorganic carbon and total organic carbon in water using the H2O2-luminol-uranine chemiluminescent reaction.
abstract: In the presence of carbonate and uranine, the chemiluminescent intensity from the reaction of luminol with hydrogen peroxide was dramatically enhanced in a basic medium. Based on this fact and coupled with the technique of flow-injection analysis, a highly sensitive method was developed for the determination of carbonate with a wide linear range. The method provided the determination of carbonate with a wide linear range of 1.0 x 10(-10)-5.0 x 10(-6) mol L(-1) and a low detection limit (S/N = 3) of carbonate of 1.2 x 10(-11) mol L(-1). The average relative standard deviation for 1.0 x 10(-9)-9.0 x 10(-7) mol L(-1) of carbonate was 3.7% (n = 11). Combined with the wet oxidation of potassium persulfate, the method was applied to the simultaneous determination of total inorganic carbon (TIC) and total organic carbon (TOC) in water. The linear ranges for TIC and TOC were 1.2 x 10(-6)-6.0 x 10(-2) mg L(-1) and 0.08-30 mg L(-1) carbon, respectively. Recoveries of 97.4-106.4% for TIC and 96.0-98.5% for TOC were obtained by adding 5 or 50 mg L(-1) of carbon to the water samples. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 2.6-4.8% for TIC and 4.6-6.6% for TOC (n = 5). The mechanism of the chemiluminescent reaction was also explored and a reasonable explanation about chemical energy transfer from luminol to uranine was proposed.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shun-Li
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Lixia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jin-Ming
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D017022:Flow Injection Analysis; D019793:Fluorescein / Q000737:chemistry*; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007287:Inorganic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry; D008163:Luminescent Measurements / Q000379:methods*; D008165:Luminol / Q000737:chemistry*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014867:Water / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D007287:Inorganic Chemicals; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D014867:Water; D008165:Luminol; D002244:Carbon; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; D019793:Fluorescein