The Molecular Basis of Organic Chemiluminescence

Bioluminescence (BL) and chemiluminescence (CL) are interesting and intriguing phenomena that involve the emission of visible light as a consequence of chemical reactions. The mechanistic basis of BL and CL has been investigated in detail since the 1960s, when the synthesis of several models of cyclic peroxides enabled mechanistic studies on the CL transformations, which led to the formulation of general chemiexcitation mechanisms operating in BL and CL. This review describes these general chemiexcitation mechanisms—the unimolecular decomposition of cyclic peroxides and peroxide decomposition catalyzed by electron/charge transfer from an external (intermolecular) or an internal (intramolecular) electron donor—and discusses recent insights from experimental and theoretical investigation. Additionally, some recent representative examples of chemiluminescence assays are given.