Photoinduced chemiluminescence of pharmaceuticals.

A screening test for the forward development of chemiluminescence systems able to determine pharmaceutical compounds is reported. The test is based on the on-line photodegradation of the drugs by using a photoreactor consisting of 697 cmx0.5 mm PTFE tubing helically coiled around an 8 W low-pressure mercury lamp. Photodegraded pharmaceuticals are detected by direct chemiluminescence of the resulting photofragments and their subsequent reaction with potassium permanganate in sulphuric acid medium as oxidant. The screening comprised 97 compounds with different molecular structures and relevant members of the most important families of pharmaceuticals are tested (amino acids, carboxylic acids, nitrocompounds, phenyl-alkyl and aromatic amines, sulphonic acid amides, polycarbocyclics, monocyclic N-containing heterocyclics, bicyclic N-containing heterocyclics, tricyclic N-containing heterocyclics, N-S containing heterocyclics...). Due to the relevant influence of the medium for the photodegradation a wide range of pH's and buffer solutions were studied. The proposed strategy (photoinduced chemiluminescence, Ph-CL) allows the development of systems for the determination of many pharmaceuticals which do not present "native" chemiluminescence (e.g. chloramphenicol, dextromethorpham, riboflavin, ephedrine, piperazinamide, chlotrimazole, theophylline...). Moreover, Ph-CL allows to increase the sensitivity of chemiluminescence procedures based on direct chemiluminescence detection (e.g. sulphonamides, thiazides, nicontinamide, nortryptiline, levamisole, phenylbarbituric acid...).

Fluorimetric determination of fluoride in a flow assembly integrated on-line to an open/closed FIA system to remove interference by solid phase extraction.

A simple flow injection fluorimetric method for fluoride determination is proposed. The method is based on the enhanced fluorescence of quercitin-Zr(IV) complex when fluoride ion is present in the sample. An open/closed FIA manifold with a mini-column of Dowex 50W X8 resin was used to remove the most important interference (aluminum). The two FIA assemblies were integrated on-line to automate the pretreatment of the water sample and fluoride determination. The calibration graph was linear over the range 0.1-3.0 mug ml(-1) of fluoride with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 and LOD 0.06 mug ml(-1). The relative standard deviation was 2.5% and the sample throughput was 52 h(-1) without pretreatment and 10 h(-1) with pretreatment of the sample. The method was applied to the determination of fluoride in water samples.

Flow-injection fluorimetric determination of mercury(II) with calcein.

A flow-injection spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of Hg(II) is described. The method is based on the complex that is formed between Hg(II) and calcein at pH 11-12. This reagent was not used before for determining Hg(II). The excitation wavelength is 324 nm and the emission wavelength is 522 nm. The calibration graph shows a linear range between 7.7 and 128 microg l(-1) (relative standard deviation 2.0%), the sampling rate was 90 h(-1). The effect of several interferents has been examined. Trace mercury in natural waters were determined satisfactorily using a modified manifold, which has an EDTA stream in order to minimize the calcium and magnesium interference.