Sensitive determination of synephrine by flow-injection chemiluminescence

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Chemiluminescence (CL) offers sensitive detection methods.
• Synephrine is an anti-obesity compound found in various natural sources.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, rapid, and sensitive method for synephrine determination.
• To investigate the chemiluminescent reaction enhancement by synephrine.

Main Methods:

• Flow injection analysis system.
• Luminol-potassium ferricyanide chemiluminescence reaction.
• Spectroscopic analysis to propose a reaction mechanism.

Main Results:

• Synephrine enhanced luminol CL intensity in a basic medium.
• Linear correlation observed between CL intensity and synephrine concentration (0.008-1 µg/mL).
• Detection limit of 1.6 ng/mL and relative standard deviation of 2.6% achieved.

Conclusions:

• A simple, rapid, and sensitive chemiluminescent method for synephrine determination was established.
• The method demonstrated good accuracy and precision, validated in herbal products, citrus fruit, and biological fluids.
• Results showed excellent agreement with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV).