Mechanism study on inhibited Ru(bpy)32+ electrochemiluminescence between coreactants

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) derived from Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) and its derivatives has been proven to be useful in diverse areas of analytical chemistry. Up to date most of the applications are based on coreactant ECL technology. However, little attention has been paid to the ECL inhibition between coreactants. In this paper, the ECL inhibition behavior between coreactants was systematically investigated. The results showed that ECL inhibition happened not only within the same type of coreactants, but also between two different types of coreactants. Interestingly, for some weak coreactants, the detection methods based on ECL inhibition were much more sensitive than those based on ECL enhancement. Therefore, it is envisioned to establish sensitive inhibited ECL detection methods for these weak coreactants. A possible ECL inhibition mechanism related to the consumption of coreactant intermediates without light emission is proposed.