Tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) Electrochemiluminescence of Sugar Alcohols

Sugar alcohols are low-calorie sugar substitutes commonly used in sugar-free products. In this study, we report for the first time Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ electrochemiluminescence (ECL) of sugar alcohols. Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ ECL of sugar alcohols, including sorbitol, mannitol, isbitol (also called isomalt, isomaltitol, and palatinitol), maltitol, lactitol, xylitol, and erythritol, was investigated. The applicability of the Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ ECL system for sugar alcohol detection was demonstrated by using sorbitol as a representative analyte. The optimized system exhibited excellent analytical performance, with a wide linear detection range from 0.5 μM to 5 mM and a low detection limit of 0.026 μM (S/N = 3). In practical applications, the system demonstrated outstanding accuracy in detecting sorbitol in pharmaceutical samples, with recovery rates ranging from 97.75 to 104.00%. These findings establish the Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ ECL as an effective and sensitive method for the detection of sugar alcohols.