Analytical applications of the electrochemiluminescence of tris(2,2''-bipyridyl) ruthenium and its derivatives

This article presents the state of the art of analytical applications of the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) of tris (2,20-bipyridyl) ruthenium(Ru(bpy) 2þ 3 ) and its derivatives. In the last seven years, Ru(bpy) 2þ 3 ECL has attracted much interest from analysts and been successfully exploited as a detector of flow injection analysis (FIA), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), capillary electrophoresis (CE), and micro total analysis systems (TAS). Immobilization of Ru(bpy) 2þ 3 on a solid surface provides several advantages over the solution-phase ECL procedure, such as the simplicity of experimental design and cost-effectiveness. After a brief discussion of the mechanism of Ru(bpy) 2þ 3 ECL, we discuss its applications in FIA, HPLC, CE and TAS and give special attention to the design of Ru(bpy) 2þ 3 ECL cells and some immobilization techniques of Ru(bpy) 2þ 3 ; we focus on papers published after 1997.