Detection of 1,3-dihydroxyacetone by tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) electrochemiluminescence

1,3-Dihydroxyacetone, a common cosmetic material and food additive, has been successfully explored as an efficient electrochemiluminescence coreactant of Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ for the first time. It is about 25 times more effective than the well-known coreactant sodium oxalate. The high electrochemiluminescence efficiency allows sensitive detection of 1,3-dihydroxyacetone without any derivatization. The electrochemiluminescence method shows two linear electrochemiluminescence responses over the range of 5.0-500 μM and 500 μM-6.0 mM with a detection limit of 1.79 μM. The proposed method is at least two orders of magnitude more sensitive than other reported methods. Graphical abstract ECL intensity-potential profile of 1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA) and oxalate.