Direct detection of medically relevant biomarkers in whole blood without the need for pretreatment or extraction is a great challenge for biomedical analysis and diagnosis. Electrochemical techniques, such as electrochemiluminescence (ECL), are promising tools for this area of analysis. ECL offers high sensitivities together with the ability to obtain time and spacial control over the process. This work exploits these features together with the low background signals obtained from ECL detection to clearly identify and quantify dopamine in whole blood with relative standard deviations lower than 5% (n = 5). This near-infrared quantum dot based ECL sensor displayed a linear response over the range 3.7 ≤ [dopamine] ≤ 450 μM, allowing the rapid detection of dopamine and providing a platform for future development. Significantly, the near-infrared quantum dots exhibited excellent penetrability through biological samples such as whole blood, and show the ECL detection of dopamine in whole blood for the first time. This will likely be at the forefront of development in biosensing and imaging fields in the foreseeable future.

This critical review covers the use of carbon nanomaterials (single-wall carbon nanotubes, multi-wall carbon nanotubes, graphene, and carbon quantum dots), semiconductor quantum dots, and composite materials based on the combination of the aforementioned materials, for analytical applications using electrogenerated chemiluminescence. The recent discovery of graphene and related materials, with their optical and electrochemical properties, has made possible new uses of such materials in electrogenerated chemiluminescence for biomedical diagnostic applications. In electrogenerated chemiluminescence, also known as electrochemiluminescence (ECL), electrochemically generated intermediates undergo highly exergonic reactions, producing electronically excited states that emit light. These electron-transfer reactions are sufficiently exergonic to enable the excited states of luminophores, including metal complexes, quantum dots and carbon nanocrystals, to be generated without photoexcitation. In particular, this review focuses on some of the most advanced and recent developments (especially during the last five years, 2010-2014) related to the use of these novel materials and their composites, with particular emphasis on their use in medical diagnostics as ECL immunosensors.

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The expansion of electrochemical sensors to biomedical applications at point of care requires these sensors to undergo analysis without any pre-treatment of extraction. This poses a major challenge for all electrochemical sensors including electrochemiluminescent (ECL) based sensors. ECL offers many advantages for biomedical applications however; obtaining results from complex matrices has proven to be a large hurdle for the application of ECL sensors within this field. This work demonstrates the potential of cathodic ECL to detect and quantify homocysteine with 0.1 nM limit of detection, which is associated with hyperhomocysteinemia, in blood. This near infrared quantum dot (NIR QD) based ECL sensor displays good linearity allowing for rapid detection and providing a basis for exploitation of ECL based sensors for biomedical diagnostics utilising homocysteine as a model cathodic co-reactant. This work will lay the foundations for future developments in biosensing and imaging fields and stands as an initial proof of concept for the utilization of cathodic ECL technologies for biomedical applications once the limits of detection within clinically relevant levels has been achieved. This work illustrates the potential of cathodic ECL sensors, using Hcy as a model complex, for the detection of biomolecules. EXPERIMENTAL Materials Qdot® 800 ITK™ organic quantum dots, (1 μM in decane) were obtained from Invitrogen. Lumidot™ 560 and 640 nm QDs, (5 mg/mL in toluene), chitosan (medium molecular weight, 75-85 % de-acetylated), and all other chemicals were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. All solutions were prepared in milli-Q water (18 mΩ cm). Bovine whole blood samples utilised within this study were obtained from Wishaw Abattoir Ltd following University of Strathclyde ethical approval. These were stored in aliquots at-20 ºC. Aliquots were defrosted at room temperature on the day of analysis and used immediately. Instrumentation A CH instrument model 760D electrochemical analyser using a standard 3 electrode setup including a 3 mm diameter GC working electrode, Pt wire counter electrode and Ag/AgCl 3 M KCl reference electrode purchased from IJ Cambria Scientific Ltd (UK) was utilised to record all electrochemical measurements. GC electrodes were cleaned following the pro-ASSOCIATED CONTENT Supporting Information Supporting material includes ECL responses for the interactions with reactive oxygen species (Figure S1), ECL responses for 1 mM K2S2O8 in blood with the Stern-Volmer and modified Stern-Volmer plots for this data (Figure S2). The ECL dependence for the interferents given in Figure 6 (Figure S3). Chromatographic experimental details are also included (Figure S4). This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

The incorporation of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole units within the arms of a trigonal quarterfluorene–truxene star-shaped system leads to a monodisperse material with stable multi-electron p- and n-doped states and highly efficient yellow electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL). The quantum yield for ECL is 7 times greater than that of the common blue ECL emitter 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA)

We demonstrate that for quantum dot (QD) based electrochemiluminescence (ECL), the commonly used co-reactant does not perform as effectively as potassium persulfate. By exploiting this small change in co-reactant, ECL intensity can be enhanced dramatically in a cathodic-based ECL system. However, TPA remains the preferential co-reactant-based system for anodic ECL. This phenomenon can be rationalised through the relative energy-level profiles of the QD to the co-reactant in conjunction with the applied potential range. This work highlights the importance of understanding the co-reactant pathway for optimising the application of ECL to bioanalytical analysis, in particular for near-infrared (NIR) QDs which can be utilised for analysis in blood.Graphical AbstractOptimising ECL Production Through Careful Selection of Co-Reactions Based on Energetics Involved