The chemiluminescent (CL) reaction for the oxidation of luminol with hydrogen peroxide in an alkaline medium was greatly affected by the presence of carbonate. The intensity of CL reaction was evidently enhanced by the addition of uranine. Based on this, a novel CL method for the determination of carbon dioxide was established. The method provided the detection a wide linear concentration rang from 1.0×10^－10 to 5.0×10^－6 mol•L^－1 and a low detection limit of 1.2×10^－11 mol•L^－1 carbonate or 5.3×10^－10 g•L^－1 carbon dioxide. It has been applied to determination of carbon dioxide in indoor and outdoor air with relative standard deviations (RSD) of 1.8%～2.1% (n＝11). The recoveries of the spiked samples were 97.6%～101.4%. A reasonable mechanism was also proposed. The CL reaction is probably triggered by the interaction of H₂O₂-K₂CO₃ and then enhanced by uranine via chemical energy transfer from luminol to uranine.

Key words: chemiluminescence, luminol, uranine, carbon dioxide