Determination of rutin by flow injection chemiluminescence method using the reaction of luminol and potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) with the aid of response surface methodology.

A novel flow injection chemiluminescence (CL) method for the determination of rutin was reported. The proposed method was based on the enhanced effect of rutin on the chemiluminescence intensity of luminol and potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) reaction in NaOH medium. The variables of reaction system, such as luminol concentration, potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) concentration and NaOH concentration, were optimized with the aid of response surface methodology. For the responses prediction, a second-order polynomial model (SOPM) was applied. The optimal conditions for determination of rutin estimated by the model equation were as follows: NaOH concentration of 0.13 mol/L luminol concentration of 0.94 × 10−6 mol/L, and K3Fe(CN)6 concentration of 1.09 × 10−4 mol/L. The theoretical increased ratio of CL intensity (IRI) predicted and actual IRI for 0.05 mg/L rutin under the above conditions were 99.40 and 99.74%, respectively. The SOPM model proved to be powerful for navigating the design space. Under the above optimum conditions, the increased IRI was linearly related to the concentration of rutin in the range from 0.008 to 0.100 mg/L with the regression equation IRI = 1948.20c + 5.24 (r = 0.9994) and in the range from 0.100 to 1.000 mg/L with the regression equation IRI = 1362.50 c + 61.94 (r = 0.9996). The detection limit (3σ) was of 1.95 × 10−3 mg/L. The sampling frequency of this method was 72/h. The method was used directly to determine rutin in tablets. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.