A new automated chemiluminescence
method resorting to sequential
injection analysis (SIA) was developed to rapidly determine biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD). The assay is based on the redox reaction between
quinone and Baker’s yeast in the presence of organic substances.
The formed active oxygen species reacted with luminol, under the catalytic
action of ferricyanide, and increased chemiluminescence signal. The
automation of the assay ensured a precise control of the reaction
conditions and enabled a reduction of more than 75-times in the reagents
consumption and effluents production comparatively to BOD5. The sampling rate was widely improved with a flow rate of 8 cycles
per hour. The method was applied to determine the BOD of ionic liquids
(ILs) incorporating different chemical elements and deep eutectic
solvents (DESs) combining choline chloride with varying hydrogen-bond
donors. Differences in BOD and biodegradability were observed between
tested compounds, with DESs showing, in general, higher BOD values
and greater biodegradation than ILs. The results obtained in the developed
bioassay demonstrated statistical correlation with the BOD5 method. Therefore, the developed methodology is a simple, economic
and high-throughput alternative screening bioassay to the conventional
method, with the potential to preliminarily assess the potential biodegradability
of chemicals in the environment.
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