Abstract
WEAK chemiluminescence seems to be a phenomenon which is not only widespread among oxidations of organic substances in non-aqueous solvents where short-lived free radicals are present1–4 but is observed also during the action of oxygen on stable radicals like triphenylmethyl and other oxygen-sensitive radicals5. The phenomenon still occurs more often in oxidation in aqueous solvents if molecular oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, hypohalogenites or ferricyanide are the oxidizing agents5. It is not limited to inorganic systems; the reactions of organic substances like semi-quinones with molecular oxygen are also accompanied by weak chemiluminescence, which is easily observable with a sensitive photomultiplier. Even living organisms such as yeast and organ-extracts, for example, cell-free centrifuged rat-liver homogenate5 treated with oxygen, emit photons.
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STAUFF, J., SCHMIDKUNZ, H. & HARTMANN, G. Weak Chemiluminescence of Oxidation Reactions. Nature 198, 281–282 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/198281a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/198281a0
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