A novel and efficient electrochemiluminescence sensing strategy for the determination of trimethylamine oxide in seafood

Abstract

A novel and efficient electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensing strategy and a solid-state ECL sensor was proposed to detect trimethylamine oxide (TMAO), which is widely presented in marine species and has important physiological functions. TMAO was reduced by Fe(II)-EDTA complex to trimethylamine, acting as coreactant, to amplify the ECL response of the Ru (bpy)32+ system. To improve the detection sensitivity and efficiency, a robust solid-state ECL probe was prepared and a flow injection ECL detection system was established with a specially designed flow ECL unit, under the excitation of stepping pulse potentials. Under optimized experimental conditions, the developed ECL sensor worked well for TMAO detection in a wide linear range of 10.00 μM to 1.00 mM with a limit of detection of 3.41 μM. It was successfully applied to determine TMAO in various species of seafood samples. This work provides a promising strategy for TMAO detection.