High-performance liquid chromatography of aromatic compounds with photochemical decomposition and tris(2,2′-bipyridine)ruthenium(III) chemiluminescence detection

A novel high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of aromatic compounds based on the on-line photochemical degradation and subsequent tris(2,2′-bipyridine)ruthenium(III) chemiluminescence detection has been developed. Chemiluminescence intensity depended upon the number of aromatic rings, UV irradiation time, and variety of substituted functional groups. One of the decomposition products of aromatic compounds by UV irradiation was identified as oxalic acid. As one application of this methodology, determination of catechins in tea has been shown. Calibration graphs, based on standard (−)-epicatechin and (−)-epigallocatechin gallate solutions, were linear over the range of 0.1–50 μM. The detection limits (signal-to-noise ratio = 3) were 0.8 pmol for (−)-epigallocatechin gallate and 1.2 pmol for (−)-epicatechin. The high-performance liquid chromatography–chemiluminescence (HPLC–CL) detection method with a post-column photochemical reactor can be applied to the sensitive and selective determination of catechins in tea.