Chemiluminescence of copper nanoclusters and its application for trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride detection

Chemiluminescence (CL) of copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) induced by cerium (IV) (Ce(IV)) or potassium permanganate (KMnO₄ ) in acidic medium was observed. The potential application of CuNCs CL in analytical chemistry was also demonstrated using trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride (THP) as an example based on its enhancing CL intensity for the CuNCs-Ce(IV)/KMnO₄ systems. The excited state of the CuNCs acted as a luminophore in the CuNCs-Ce(IV) system, while CuNCs played the role of reductant in the CuNCs-KMnO₄ system. The increased CL intensity for Ce(IV)-CuNCs system was proportional to the THP concentrations in the range of 0.1 to 10.0 μM. The detection limit was 49.0 nM and the relative standard deviation was 2.2% for 2.0 μM THP (n = 11). The proposed method was applied to detect THP in pharmaceutical formulations and human plasma samples.