Development of a sensitive flow injection-chemiluminescence detection method for the indirect determination of propranolol

A highly sensitive flow injection-chemiluminescence detection (FI-CL) method based on pyrogallol (Pg) chemiluminescent reagent (CL-reagent) oxidized by periodate for the determination of propranolol is presented. The presented method is an indirect CL detection method based on the CL emission generated during the oxidation of Pg with the excess of periodate that remains after oxidation of propranolol within the time period of 10 min. The obtained propranolol calibration curve is linear up to 1.0 mg l−1 with a sensitivity of −0.95 V mg−1 l. At higher than 1.0 mg l−1 propranolol concentrations the propranolol calibration curve is still linear up to 20.0 mg l−1 with a sensitivity of −0.05 V mg−1 l. The detection limit is restricted from the noise level and at S/N = 3 was found to be 37.4 μg l−1 (3.74 ng) with R.S.D.% = 0.34 for seven replicate measurements.