Rapid determination of picogram levels of patulin in apple juice using a flow injection chemiluminescence procedure

BACKGROUND: A sensitive, rapid and simple chemiluminescence procedure, based on the enhancing effect of patulin on the chemiluminescence (CL) reaction between luminol and hydrogen peroxide in a flow injection (FI) system, has been proposed for the determination of patulin. RESULT: The increment of CL intensity was linear over the concentration of patulin ranging from 0.05 to 80 ng mL−1, with a detection limit (3S/N) of 0.01 ng mL−1. At a flow rate of 2.0 mL min−1, a complete analysis could be performed in 25 s with a relative standard deviation of less than 4.0%. CONCLUSION: The proposed method was successfully applied to the measurement of apple juice samples obtained from the Shaanxi Entry–Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. The recoveries were between 93.4 and 107.9% Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry