Flow injection determination of adenine at trace level based on luminol–K2Cr2O7 chemiluminescence in a micellar medium

A novel flow injection chemiluminescence (CL) analysis method for the determination of adenine in the presence of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) surfactant micelles is described. This method is based on the luminescent properties of the luminol–K2Cr2O7–adenine in alkaline medium sensitized by SDBS. The optimized experimental conditions were evaluated and the possible mechanism was discussed by examining CL emission spectrum and the effect of various free radical scavengers on CL emission intensity. The CL increase is linearly related to the concentration of adenine in the range of 2.92 × 10−6 to 4.38 × 10−10 mol l−1 with a detection limit of 2.46 × 10−10 mol l−1 (S/N = 3). The relative standard deviation for 2.92 × 10−7 mol l−1 samples was 1.67% (n = 12). The proposed method has been applied to the determination of adenine in human serum.