Electrogenerated chemiluminescence of tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) using N-(3-aminopropyl)diethanolamine as coreactant

Coreactant plays a critical role for the application of electrochemiluminescence (ECL). Herein, N-(3-aminopropyl)diethanolamine (APDEA) has been explored as a potential coreactant for enhancing tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) ECL. It is much more effective than tripropylamine at gold and platinum electrodes although it has one primary amine group besides a tertiary amine group. The presence of primary amine group and hydroxyl groups in APDEA promotes the oxidation rates of amine and thus remarkably increases ECL intensity. The ECL intensities of the Ru(bpy)3 (2+)/APDEA system are approximately 10 and 36 times stronger than that of Ru(bpy)3 (2+)/tripropylamine system and about 1.6 and 1.14 times stronger than that of Ru(bpy)3 (2+)/N-butyldiethanolamine system at Au and Pt electrodes, respectively. The ECL intensity of the Ru(bpy)3 (2+)/APDEA system is 2.42 times stronger than that of Ru(bpy)3 (2+)/N-butyldiethanolamine at glassy carbon electrodes.