AbstractA new chemiluminescence (CL) reaction was observed when cerium(IV) solution was injected into bromhexine hydrochloride–morin solution. Based on this, a flow‐injection CL method for the determination of bromhexine hydrochloride was established. A possible mechanism of the CL reaction was proposed via the investigation of the CL kinetic characteristics, the CL spectrum and the fluorescence spectra of some related substances. Under optimum conditions, the CL signal was correlated linearly with concentration of bromhexine hydrochloride over the range 2.0 × 10–9–2.0 × 10–7 g/mL, with a linear correlation of 0.9995. The detection limit was 9 × 10–10 g/mL bromhexine hydrochloride and the relative standard deviation was 1.0% (c = 2.0 × 10–8 g/mL bromhexine hydrochloride, n = 11). The method was applied to the determination of bromhexine hydrochloride in pharmaceutical preparations and human urine samples with satisfactory results. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.