Determination of Vitamin B12 Using a Chemiluminescence Flow System

A method to determine vitamin B(12) by measuring the chemiluminescence (CL) intensities using a flow injection (FI) system has been proposed. It is based on the catalytic effect of cobalt(II) in vitamin B(12) on the CL reaction between luminol and hydrogen peroxide in a basic medium. The increment of the CL intensity is proportional to the concentration of vitamin B(12) in the range 8.68-86.9 ng/mL (r(2) = 0.9984) with a detection limit (3 sigma) of 0.89 ng/mL. The CL response is obtained in 10 s at a flow rate of 3.0 mL/min with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 2.5% (n = 6). The method has been successfully applied to the determination of vitamin B(12) in pharmaceutical injections.