We report the quenching behavior of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) on the electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of the Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)/TPrA [bpy = tris(2,2'-bipyridine), TPrA = tri-n-propylamine] system at a Pt electrode in acetonitrile containing tetra-n-butylammonium perchlorate supporting electrolyte. Effective ECL quenching of the system upon the addition of TNT was observed, with a Stern-Volmer constant of 2 x 10(4)M(-1). The quenching constant calculated from the Stern-Volmer plot was found to be 2.1 x 10(10) M-1 s(-1) which suggests the efficient quenching of ECL by TNT. The competitive processes of consuming TPrA(center dot) free radicals and Ru(bpy)(3)(+) species (produced as a result of reduction of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) by TPrA(center dot)) by TNT largely contributed to this quenching, in which the consumption of Ru(bpy)(3)(+) by TNT was more favorable than that of TPrA(center dot) free radicals. TNT was also found to quench the fluorescence of Ru (bpy)(3)(2+), with a Stern-Volmer and a quenching constant of 5.2 x 10(3) M-1 and 5.5 x 10(9) M-1 s(-1), respectively. This collisional (dynamic) based fluorescence quenching process contributed approximately one quarter of the overall ECL quenching efficiency. The present ECL quenching scheme could be used to detect TNT at submicromolar levels. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.