Quenched peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence detection in aqueous liquid chromatographic separations

Several analytes, such as bromide, iodide, sulphite, nitrite, substituted anilines and organosulphur compounds cause quenching of peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence. This phenomenon, quenched peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence, can be used as a method of detection for liquid chromatography. The potential of quenched chemiluminescence is discussed, with special attention give to its compatibility with aqueous separation systems. An immobilized fluorophore, 3-aminofluoranthene on controlled pore glass, is packed in the detector cell. Liquid-state studies show that the influence of both the nature and concentration of the fluorophore is small, which indicates a more complicated mechanism of the chemiluminescence reaction than previously assumed. It is shown that bis(2-nitrophenyl)oxalat is a more suitable oxalate for quenched chemiluminescence detection than bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate. This is demostrated for ion-chromatography of bromide and iodide and the aqueous reversed-phase separation of organosulphur compounds. Detection limits in the low nanogram and sub-nanogram region are reported for the above compounds. When an electronic inverter was used, calibration curves were linear over a concentration range of 2–3 decades. The method is quite selective and can be applied to relatively complex matrices without sample pretreatment.