A simple and rapid flow-injection method is reported for the determination of retinol, its derivatives and alpha-tocopherol by its enhancement effect on a potassium permanganate-formaldehyde chemiluminescence system in an acidic medium. Linear calibration graphs were obtained between 5.0 x 10(-8) to 5.0 x 10(-6) mol L(-1) for all-trans-retinol, 5.0 x 10.8 - 2.5 x 10(-6) mol L(-1) for all-trans-retinal, 5.0 x 10(-7) - 1.0 x 10.5 mol L(-1) for retinoic acid, 1.0 x 10(-7) - 5.0 x 10(-6) mol L(-1) for retinyl acetate and retinyl palmitate and 1.0 x 10(-8) - 5.0 x 10(-6) for alpha-tocopherol, with relative standard deviations (RSD; n = 4) in the range of 0.8 - 2.8%. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) were in the range of 5.0 x 10(-9) - 1.0 x 10(-7) mol L(-1) with a sample throughput of 100 h(-1). The influence of common ions, excipients in pharmaceutical preparations and related organic compounds were studied on the determination of retinol and alpha-tocopherol individually. The method was applied to determine retinol and alpha-tocopherol in pharmaceutical preparations, and the results obtained were in reasonable agreement with the amount labelled.
