Determination of hypochlorite in water using a chemiluminescent test strip

We have developed a selective and reusable chemiluminescent test strip to determine hypochlorite. The hypochlorite-sensitive test strip contains a 10 mm × 9 mm piece of anionic cellulose paper in fluoresceinate cycle, glued to a 10 mm × 4 cm × 0.5 mm polyester strip. The measurement of the chemiluminescence in a luminometer when 1 ml of sample is injected into a conventional cell containing the strip makes it possible to determine hypochlorite. The composition of the membrane and reaction conditions have been adjusted to obtain adequate sensitivity and selectivity. The test strip responded linearly to hypochlorite over two linear ranges, the first 2.0–10.3 mg L^-1 and the second 10.3–51.4 mg L^-1, with a detection limit of 0.4 mg L^-1. The reproducibility using the same disposable test strip at a medium level of the range was 6.6%, as relative standard deviation (R.S.D.), and 12.3% using different test strips. The procedure was applied to the determination of hypochlorite in different types of waters.