Chemiluminescence determination of ultramicro DNA with a flow-injection method

A high sensitive flow-injection chemiluminescence method for determination of calf thymus DNA and herring sperm DNA has been developed. The method is based on the chemiluminescence reaction of Rhodamine B-cerium(IV)-thermally denatured DNAs in sulfuric acid media. The proposed procedure allows quantitation of DNAs in the range 2.6 x 10(-5) to 0.26 mug ml(-1) for calf thymus DNA and 5.0 x 10(-8) to 5.0 x 10(-5) mug ml(-1) for herring sperm DNA with correlation coefficients 0.9998 and 0.9996 (both n = 11), respectively. The detection limits (3sigma) are 6.5 x 10(-6) mug ml(-1) for calf thymus DNA and 4.3 x 10(-8) mug ml(-1) for herring sperm DNA. The possible mechanism of chemiluminescence in the system is discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.