Luminescent metal chelate labels and means for detection

Claim 1

A chemical moiety having the formula ##STR4## wherein: M is ruthenium or osmium; P, L 1 , and L 2 each is a bidentate aromatic heterocyclic nitrogen-containing ligand of M selected from the group consisting of bipyridyl, substituted bipyridyl, bipyrazyl, substituted bipyrazyl, phenanthrolyl and substituted phenanthrolyl, wherein each of said substituted groups is substituted by an alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, carboxylate, carboxaldehyde, carboxamide, cyano, amino, hydroxycarbonyl, hydroxyamino, aminocarbonyl, amidine, guanidinium, ureide, sulfur-containing group, phrophorus-containing group, or the carboxylate ester of N-hydroxysuccinimide, each of said ligands being the same or not the same as each other ligand; B is a biological substance, a synthetic substance which is capable of competing with a biological substance in a competitive binding reaction with a complementary material, or a non-biological polymer; m=1; each of n and o is 1; t is an integer equal to or greater than 1; u is 1; and said link is one or more amide or amine linkages, each said amide or amine linkage covalently bonding B with one of P, L 1 and L 2 ; P, L 1 , L 2 , and B being of such composition and number that the chemical moiety is capable of being induced to electrochemiluminescence, and the total number of bonds to M provided by the ligands of M equals the coordination number of M.