Gold Nanoparticles‐enhanced Chemiluminescence Determination of Fenfluramine

A simple and sensitive chemiluminescence method was developed for the determination of fenfluramine. The chemiluminescence signal arising from the reaction between alkaline luminol and N‐bromosuccinimide was found to be greatly enhanced by fenfluramine in the presence of gold nanoparticles. But fenfluramine alone slightly inhibited the CL signal of N‐bromosuccinimide‐luminol in the absence of gold nanoparticles. The experimental parameters that affected the chemiluminescence signal were thoroughly investigated. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the enhanced chemiluminescence intensity was proportional to the concentration of fenfluramine in the range of 0.005‐1.0 mg/L. The detection limit was 0.9 μg/L fenfluramine with a relative standard deviation of 2.5% for 0.1 mg/L fenfluramine solution (n = 11). The method was applied to the determination of fenfluramine in some weight‐reducing tonics and in spiked human urine. A possible CL reaction mechanism was proposed.