Inhibited Ru(bpy)3 2+ electrochemiluminescence related to electrochemical oxidation activity of inhibitors

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) has been accepted by the analytical chemist as a powerful tool for detection of many inorganic and organic compounds. Ru(bpy)3 2+ has been the most popular ECL system, and many investigations have been focused on the application based on the enhancement or inhibition of Ru(bpy)3 2+ ECL system. However, not much attention has been paid to the theoretical investigation of this ECL system, especially to the inhibiting mechanism for the Ru(bpy)3 2+ ECL system. In the present study, many of the inorganic and organic compounds with electrochemical oxidation activity were found to strongly inhibit Ru(bpy)3 2+ ECL. To explain these inhibited ECL phenomena, a new "electrochemical oxidation inhibiting" mechanism has been proposed via the establishment of a corresponding model. The effects of applied potential, uncompensated resistance, and concentration of inhibitor on the inhibited ECL derived from the model have been verified by experiments. The new ECL inhibition mechanism can be commonly used to explain many kinds of inhibited ECL presently observed, and it is envisioned to result in finding of more inhibitors of this type and establishment of new sensitive ECL detection methods for them.