Preliminary survey of electrochemiluminescence from tunicate and other biological samples

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is an electrochemical means of generating light from certain organic-metal complexes (e.g., Cr, Os, or Ru with bipyridine) and other types of molecules. Thus, it may be possible to develop an ECL-based metals sensor or biosensor consisting of organic molecules coated onto electrodes which emit light only upon complexation of particular metal ions and application of a small voltage. Toxic metals in water sources are of environmental concern. Some marine invertebrates, such as tunicates (i.e. "sea squirts") and molluscs, are noted for their ability to concentrate toxic metals as much as 100 million-fold over ambient seawater concentrations. In the present work, extracts from a tunicate species, as well as synthetic tunicate blood pigments or "tunichromes", oysters, and other organisms were examined for intrinsic ECL in the presence and absence of various metal ions. Results suggest a promising novel, potentially sensitive, and specific means for metal ion detection based on ECL.