The chemical substance1,2-dioxetane (systematically named 1,2-dioxacyclobutane, also known as ethylene peroxideorperoxyethane) is a heterocyclic, organic compound with formula C2O2H4, containing a ring of two adjacent oxygen atoms and two adjacent carbon atoms. It is therefore an organic peroxide, and can be viewed as a dimerofformaldehyde (COH2).
Chemiluminescence was first observed with lophine (triphenylimidazole). When in basic solution, this compound converts to the imidazolate, which reacts with oxygen to eventually give the 1,2-dioxetane. Fragmentation of the dioxetane gives the excited state of an anionic diamide.[1]
Steps leading up to chemiluminescence of lophine.
In the 1960s, 1,2-dioxetane were demonstrated as intermediates in the reactions responsible for the bioluminescenceinfireflies, glow-worms, and other luminescent creatures. The luminescence of glowsticks and luminescent bangles and necklaces involves 1,2-dioxetanedione (C2O4), another dioxetane derivative that decomposes to carbon dioxide.[2] Other dioxetane derivatives are used in clinical analysis, where their light emission (which can be measured even at very low levels) allows chemists to detect very low concentrations of body fluid constituents.[3]
The second example of a dioxetane derivative was made shortly after: the symmetrical compound 3,3,4,4-tetramethyl-1,2-dioxetane, obtained as pale yellow crystals that sublimed even when kept in the refrigerator. Benzene solutions of this compound also decomposed smoothly with the emission of blue light. By adding compounds that normally fluoresce in UV light the colour of the emitted light could be altered.[5]
^Luminescence in the thermal decomposition of 3,3,4-trimethyl-1,2-dioxetane, Canadian Journal of Chemistry, Volume 47, p 709 (1969), K.R.Kopecky and C. Mumford
^Preparation and Thermolysis of Some 1,2-Dioxetanes, Canadian Journal of Chemistry, 1975, 53(8): 1103-1122, Karl R. Kopecky, John E. Filby, Cedric Mumford, Peter A. Lockwood, and Jan-Yih Ding.doi:10.1139/v75-154
