The Analysis of Nicotine by Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence (ECL) - Experiments for Undergraduates

This study highlights the effectiveness of electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) techniques for the analysis of nicotine, both in its pure form and within cigarettes and smoke. The measurements are simple to perform, and the required equipment is relatively inexpensive, making these experiments suitable for inclusion in undergraduate chemistry laboratory courses. Unlike absorbance and fluorescence methods, which can quantify nicotine in isolation but struggle within cigarettes due to interference from other compounds-particularly carotenoids, which fluoresce more strongly than nicotine-ECL selectively detects nicotine. Carotenoids, unlike nicotine, do not respond to ECL, making this technique well-suited for nicotine analysis in complex matrices like tobacco and smoke. This approach is further explored in the article.