Quenching of the electrochemiluminescence of Ru(bpy)32+/TPA by malachite green and crystal violet

Efficient and stable quenching of electrochemiluminescence of Ru(bpy)32+/TPA by malachite green(MG) and crystal violet(CV) at the glass carbon (GC) electrode is reported. A novel quenching mechanism has been proposed. Resonance energy transfer from the excited-state luminophore Ru(bpy)32+⁎ to MG/CV and dynamic quenching are suggested as the mechanism for quenching ECL. The quenching mechanism is discussed in detail based on UV–visible absorption spectra, cyclic voltammograms, ECL curves and fluorescence methods. MG shows more efficient quenching than CV. Moreover, the quenched ECL intensity versus the concentration of MG and CV are linear over the concentration ranges of 8×10−10–8×10−7 M and 3.46×10−9–5.5×10−7 M, respectively. The corresponding limit of detection (LOD) was 1.0×10−10 M for MG and 1.1×10−10 M for CV (S/N=3).