Sensitive determination of metal ions by liquid chromatography with tris(2,2'-bipyridine) ruthenium (II) complex electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection.

Emetine dithiocarbamate metal complex, which is prepared from emetine, carbon disulfide, and metal (II), was found to indicate a large chemiluminescence intensity on the electrogenerated chemiluminescence of tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II). Liquid chromatography equipped with the chemiluminescence detection was developed for analyzing trace metal ions by use of the metal complex formation. The mixture of the Cu(II) and Co(II) complexes as a model sample was injected into the LC system. The two metal complexes and an excess emetine were successfully separated. The Cu(II) and Co(II) complexes were determined over the range 1-300 nM (the detection limit of 650 fg) and 30-5000 nM (the detection limit of 17 pg), respectively.