IMMUNOASSAY BY TIME-RESOLVED ELECTROGENERATED LUMINESCENCE

An immunoanalytical method based on electrogenerated luminescence was developed in which the labelling compound is the terbium chelate of 2,6-bis[N,N-bis(carboxymethyl)aminomethyl]-4-benzoylphenol which is linked by a thioureido group to the antibody. The sandwich complex of the labelled antibody, antigen and antibody immobilized on the surface of an aluminium electrode is excited by an electrical pulse and, after a short delay from the end of the pulse, light emission is measured. The electroluminescence immunoassay is exemplified by the heterogeneous and homogeneous assays of human pancreatic phospholipase A2, for which both assay methods give a reasonably good linearity in the range 10-300 ng ml-1.