DETERMINATION OF TAURINE BY THE PEROXYOXALATE CHEMILUMINESCENCE METHOD

A method is described for the determination of taurine by using the peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence reaction. Taurine was derivatized with o-phthalaldehyde in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol in an alkali medium. The derivatized taurine, fluorescent compound (F), was excited by 1,2-dioxethanedione, which was produced from the peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence reaction of bis(2,1,6-trichlorophenyl)oxalate and hydrogen peroxide. The excited F returned to the ground state with the emission of light. The taurine was determined by measuring the generated light, that is, chemiluminescence (CL). All of the procedures were carried out in a batchwise operation. The optimum pH, o-phthalaldehyde and 2-mercap:oethanol concentrations for the determination of 1 X 10(-3) M taurine were 8, 2.24 X 10(-3) M and 1.78 X 10(-4) M, respectively. A maximum CL intensity (counts per 30 s) was obtained for a period of up to about 5 min after mixing taurine and o-phthalaldehyde. The calibration curve was linear over the 1 X 10(-6) similar to 1 X 10(-3) M range. The correlation coefficient for this line was 0.998. The detection limit (3 sigma) was 4.6 X 10(-7) M and the relative standard deviation was less than 8% (n = 6). This method was applied to the determination of taurine in commercially available medicinal beverages.