2-(Dibutylamino)ethanol (DBAE) is a highly effective coreactant for Ru(bpy)(3)(2-) electrochemiluminescence (ECL) and Ru(phen)(3)(2+) is a well-known ECL luminophore. In this study, ECL of Ru(phen)(3)(2+)/DBAE has been investigated for the first time. This study has been carried out using cyclic voltametry and amperometry. The results imply that amperometry is found to be superior to cyclic voltametry as it shows approximately five fold enhancement in ECL emission intensity. Furthermore, compared to Ru(bpy)(3)(2+), Ru(phen)(3)(2+) provides several fold increase in ECL intensities with DBAE. Sensitive detection of Ru(phen)(3)(2+) is achieved with a linear range over approximately four orders of magnitude using very low concentration of DBAE (5 mM). (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.