Chemiluminescence determination of bufrenorphine hydrochloride by flow injection analysis

A direct, simple and rapid flow-injection method is described for determining buprenorphine hydrochloride (10^?8–10^?4 M) based on its chemiluminescent oxidation with potassium permanganate in polyphosphoric acid. The limit of detection is 1 × 10^?8 M (0.5 pmol per injection) and the log-log calibration is linear up to 1 × 10^?4 M; the r.s.d. is 0.7% for a 10 μg ml^?1 solution (n = 10). The method is directly applicable to aqueous solutions of tablets containing the drug (0.2 mg/tablet).