Determination of cysteine in a pharmaceutical formulation by flow injection analysis with a chemiluminescence detector

A simple and convenient flow injection-chemiluminescence (FI-CL) method for the determination of cysteine is reported, based on a fast and strong CL in a basic luminol-cysteine-NaIO₄ solution. The linear range was 1.0×10⁻⁸ to 1.0×10⁻⁶ M with a detection limit (3s) of 5×10⁻⁹ M, which was 100 times more sensitive than previously reported CL methods. Singlet oxygen, hydroxyl radical and hydrogen peroxide were suggested to be produced in this reaction and were responsible for the CL of cysteine. This simple method has been successfully applied for the determination of cysteine in a pharmaceutical formulation.