Chemiluminescence recognition of berberine triggered by biomimetically synthesized silver nanoparticles

•The rapid, simple and sensitive method for sensing of berberine has been introduced.•The silver nanocatalyst was biomimetically synthesized using Oxalis corniculata plant.•The berberine was determined by good linear working concentrations ranging and nanomolar detection limit.•The method has been successfully applied to recognation of berberine in pharmaceuticals. A simple, rapid and sensitive method was developed using silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) amplified flow-based peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence system to detect berberine, an anticancer agent. Berberine could dramatically sensitize the emission from oxidation reaction of bis (2,4,6-tricholorophenyl) oxalate (TCPO) with H2O2 catalyzed by silver nanoparticles(Ag-NPs). Under optimized experimental conditions, CL intensity was found to be proportional to the concentration of berberine in the range from 5×10−9 to 5×10−7molL−1 (r>0.9843, n=8) was obtained with a detection limit of 8.7×10−10molL−1. Potential interference by common excipients was also studied. The relative standard deviation for 8 repetitive determinations was less than 3.4% and recoveries of 97.7% and 101.6% were obtained. The Ag nanoparticles were synthesized using Oxalis corniculata plant as green route and characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy, particle size analyzer and UV–vis Spectroscopy. The method was successfully applied to detect berberine in pharmaceutical formulations.