{{short description, Water treatment test
Eclox, which stands for ''Enhanced ChemiLuminescence and OXyradical test for
water quality
Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...
analysis'', is a rapid
toxicity
Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...
technology that has been shown to correlate with other established toxicity tests. Rapid toxicity testing is unable to identify specific
contaminant
Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that spoils, corrupts, infects, makes unfit, or makes inferior a material, physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc.
Types of contamination
Wi ...
s or their concentrations and instead function as a screening tool to quickly determine whether water is potentially toxic.
Eclox ECL assay
Eclox ECL is a broadband enhanced
chemiluminescence
Chemiluminescence (also chemoluminescence) is the emission of light (luminescence) as the result of a chemical reaction. There may also be limited emission of heat. Given reactants A and B, with an excited intermediate ◊,
: + -> lozenge -> ...
(ECL) assay that can be used to qualitatively assess a water sample to determine whether it has been contaminated. ECL reactions are used in a number of clinical and analytical applications and are based upon the oxidation of
luminol
Luminol (C8H7N3O2) is a chemical that exhibits chemiluminescence, with a blue glow, when mixed with an appropriate oxidizing agent. Luminol is a white-to-pale-yellow crystalline solid that is soluble in most polar organic solvents, but insolub ...
in the presence of the
enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
source, and an enhancer such as 4-iodophenol.
Eclox 3Sawcer, K.E., Thorpe, G.H.G., 2000. The Enhanced Chemiluminescence (ECL) Water Quality Test: Modes of Action and Mechanistic Studies of Substances acting on the Enhanced Chemiluminescence Reaction. R&D Technical Report E86. Bristol, Environmental Agency