RETRACTED: 4-dimethylaminopyridine: Discovery of a co-reactant system providing outstanding and reliable emission in electrochemiluminescence

Ru(bpy)32+ has received significantly increasing interest in clinical diagnosis and scientific research because of its high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, good stability, solubility, and ECL efficiency in aqueous solutions. As the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) results from electrochemical reactions between Ru(bpy)32+ and co-reactant, extensive research has been focused on exploring novel co-reactants for the highly sensitive determination of Ru(bpy)32+. Therefore, co-reactant plays a critical role for the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) application. Herein, 4-DMAP has been explored as a potential co-reactant for enhancing Ru(bpy)32+ ECL. It is much more effective than tripropylamine (TPrA) at gold and platinum electrodes, although it shows an ECL emission mechanism similar to TPrA. The presence of amine group at para position with pyridine ring in 4-DMAP structure considerably enhances ECL intensity. The ECL intensities of the Ru(bpy)32+/4-DMAP system are approximately 28 and 25 times stronger than that of the Ru(bpy)32+/TPrA system at gold and platinum electrode, respectively.