Determination of Polyamines by Flow Injection Analysis with a Chemiluminescence Detector Based on Their Complexation with Copper(II)

Through the flow injection analysis experiments, we discovered that an unsaturated complex of Cu(II) and polyamines (spermine, spermidine, putrescine) had a strongly catalytic effect on luminol–H2O2 chemiluminescence (CL) reaction, and that the CL intensity is proportional to the concentrations of polyamines. Based on the automatic formation of an unsaturated complex of polyamines and Cu(II) when the solution containing polyamines passed through a column packed with solid Cu(OH)2, a new flow injection chemiluminescence analysis method was proposed for the determination of polyamines. The effects of pH, buffer concentration, the concentration of chemiluminescence reagent, and the influence of mixing coil length were examined. Under optimal conditions, the linear range was from 1.0 × 10−7 mol L−1 to 1.0 × 10−5 mol L−1, and the detection limits were 0.17, 0.38, 0.44 pmol for spermine, spermidine, and putrescine, respectively. Compared with other methods, the advantages of this method include convenience, time-saving and low cost.