204 



FIREFLY LUCIFERIN 



though it must be borne in mind that this half-wave may not repre- 

 sent the biologically important one and may, moreover, be consid- 

 erably modified through association with the enzyme. 



Finally, an attempt was made to determine the molecular weight 

 of luciferin through mass spectroscopy. The results of this work 

 clearly yield information on the molecular weight of the compound 

 and also shed some light on the possible structure of this compound. 

 The material was introduced into a special small platinum furnace 



H, / 



256 



213 



199 



171 



NH 



241 



199 



165 



t56 



Fig. 7. Structure of proposed fragments arising from riboflavin. 



