THE CHEMILUiMlNtSCENCE OF LUMINOLi 

 Emil H. White 



D('[)a)lniiiit of Clicmistry, The Julius Hopkins University, 

 liiilliinoif. M(ii\ 1(1)1(1 



Visible light is emitted from a moderate number of chemical re- 

 actions at room temperature (2) . Only two chemiluminescent re- 

 actions, the oxidation of luminol (5-amino-2,3-dihydro-l,4-phtiiala- 

 zinedione, Fig. 1, I) (I) and the oxidation of lucigenin (10,10'- 



I II 



lig. 1. I. Stnutmal foiimihi of hmiinol. II, StiiKliiial lonmila ol liuigeiiiii. 



dimethyl-9,9'-biacridinium nitrate. Fig. 1, II) (H) , are reasonably 

 etticient in this respect, however. The brilliant chemiliuiiinescence 

 of the latter compounds has attracted the attention of a large number 

 of investigators, some interested in the mechanism of the reaction 

 (2) , and others in practical applications to the detection and analysis 

 of hydrogen peroxide (19), free radicals (4), blood (24), etc. (13). 

 Despite this interest and effort, it must be concluded that very little 

 is known about chemiluminescence today. Ideally, a study of chemi- 

 luminescence should lead to an understanding of the chemical proc- 

 esses involved as well as to an tmderstanding of the important problem 

 of the interconversion of chemical energy and light energy. An ap- 

 proach to such a study of the chemiluminescence of luminol and a 

 critical review of previous work in this field are the subjects of this 

 paj:)er. 



' This investigation was supported in \nin l)\ a icsearch grant liom tlic I'liblic 

 Health Service. 



183 



