Capillary electrophoresis chemiluminescence assay of naphthol isomers in human urine and river water using Ni(IV) complex-luminol system.

A capillary electrophoresis method involving online indirect chemiluminescence (CL) detection was used to determine naphthol (NAP) isomers. The method was based on the quenching effect of 1- and 2-NAP on a new CL reaction of luminol with Ni(IV) complex in an alkaline medium. Separation was conducted with a 25.0 mM sodium borate buffer containing 0.8 mmol/L luminol. Under optimized conditions, 1- and 2-NAP were baseline separated and detected in less than 8 min. The limits of detection of 1- and 2-NAP were 3.1 and 2.7 μg/L, respectively (S/N = 3), with a linear range of 4.0-80.0 μg/L (r > 0.995). Analysis of real samples demonstrated that the spiked recoveries were in the range of 89.2-107.5% (n = 3). The proposed method was successfully used to determine 1- and 2-NAP contents in three environmental water samples and 14 human urine samples. No derivatization or tedious pretreatment was required in the analysis. The proposed method is a potential approach for routine tests of naphthol isomers in a facile CE-CL system.