Chemiluminescent investigation of tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) immobilized on a cationic ion-exchange resin and its application to analysis

Tris-(2, 2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) complex, Ru(bpy)(3)(2+), was immobilized on the Dowex-50 W cationic ion-exchange resin. The chemiluminescent characteristics of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) in solution and in resin form were compared by using batch and flow injection methods. A strong chemiluminescence was observed during the reaction of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) both in solution and in resin with KMnO(4) or Ce(SO(4))(2) under acidic or basic conditions. The Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) immobilized resin is stable, which can be used at least for 6 months when it reacts with the dilute KMnO(4) solution. Based on this property, Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) immobilized in the resin phase was developed as a flow-through chemiluminescent sensor that could be used to determine oxalate, sulfite and ethanol chemically or electronically with Ru(bpy)(3)(3+) generation on the surface of resin. The limits of detection were 1 x 10(-6) M for oxalate, 0.5% (v/v) for ethanol and 1 x 10(-7) M for sulfite. The method has been successfully applied to determine sulfite in sugar.