Two analytical approaches including chemiluminescence (CL) and corona discharge ionization ion mobility spectrometry (CD-IMS) were developed for sensitive determination of selegiline (SG). We found that the CL intensity of the KMnO4–Na2S2O3 CL system was significantly enhanced in the presence of l-cysteine capped CdS quantum dots (QDs). A possible CL mechanism for this CL reaction is proposed. In the presence of SG, the enhanced CL system was inhibited. Based on this inhibition, a simple and sensitive flow-injection CL method was proposed for the determination of SG. Under optimum experimental conditions, the decreased CL intensity was proportional to SG concentration in the range of 0.01 to 30.0 mg L− 1. The detection limit (3σ) was 0.004 mg L− 1. Also, SG was determined using CD-IMS, and under optimum conditions of CD-IMS, calibration curves were linear in the range of 0.15 to 42.0 mg L− 1, with a detection limit (3σ) of 0.03 mg L− 1. The precision of the two methods was calculated by analyzing samples containing 5.0 mg L− 1 of SG (n = 11). The relative standard deviations (RSDs%) of the flow-injection CL and CD-IMS methods are 2.17% and 3.83%, respectively. The proposed CL system exhibits a higher sensitivity and precision than the CD-IMS method for the determination of SG.
