Symposium 1997: Abstract for G Thorpe

Symposium 1997: Abstracts

Rapid Pollution Tracing and Water Quality Testing Using Enhanced Chemiluminescence

Gary Thorpe
Wolfson Applied Technology Laboratory, Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TH, UK

Enhanced chemiluminescence can be used as a rapid screening test for pollutants in water samples. The system has been applied to frequent monitoring of river waters and rapid pollution tracing in both field and laboratory studies. The simple, reproducible and rapid technique merely involves the addition of chemiluminescent reagents to a small volume of sample, monitoring the light emission for four minutes and comparison against a distilled water control. Information on the nature of pollution can be obtained from the degree of inhibition and from curve shapes.

Light emission from the peroxidase catalysed enhanced oxidation of luminol can be influenced by, radical scavenging, and competitive and non-competitive enzyme inhibition from pollutants and toxic chemicals, such as those occurring in sewage, agricultural slurries, trade effluents and road run- off. These have the potential to find their way into waterways including rivers and lakes, and require detection by simple and rapid techniques.