Flow injection chemiluminescent determination of N-nitrosodimethylamine using photogenerated tris(2,2′-bipyridyl) ruthenium (III)

A flow injection configuration was developed and evaluated for the chemiluminescent determination of N-nitrosodimethylamine. The method is based on the on-line cleavage of the N-NO bond of the nitrosamine by irradiation with ultraviolet light. The dimethylamine generated was subsequently reacted with tris(2,2'-bipyridyl) ruthenium (III), which was generated through the on-line photo-oxidation of tris(2,2'-bipyridyl) ruthenium (II) with peroxydisulfate. After selecting the best operating parameters, the emitted light showed a linear relationship with the concentration of N-nitrosodimethylamine between 1.5 and 148 no ml(-1), with a detection limit of 0.29 no ml(-1). The repeatability was 1.6% expressed as relative standard deviation (n = 10) and the reproducibility, studied on five consecutive days, was 3.2%. The sample throughput was 50 injections per hour. The method was applied to studying the recoveries of N-nitrosodimethylamine in water and different cured meat products. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.