1.2- Dioxetanes chemiluminescence mechanism

Figure 8 Chemiluminescent mechanism for 1,2-dioxetanes (A) a concerted decomposition process (B) a two-step biradical process.

Figure 2 illustrates the reaction mechanisms of acridinium ester label probes and alkaline phosphatase probes using dioxetane chemiluminescent detection. Table 2 summarizes approaches for labeling DNA. 

While the unimolecular chemiluminescence of dioxetanones appears to fall easily within the framework of conventional dioxetane chemiluminescence, the chemiluminescence of dioxetanones in the presence of certain fluorescers falls resoundingly outside that framework. Adam et al. (1974) noted that the addition of rubrene to solutions of dimethyldioxetanone gave a yield of light twenty times that obtained when an equivalent concentration of 9,10-diphenylanthracene was added. Importantly, the apparent dissimilarity between rubrene and diphenylanthracene is inexplicable by any conventional mechanism of dioxetane decomposition. Also, significantly, Adam et al. (1974) observed an increase in the first-order decay constant of the dioxetanone with the addition of rubrene, an observation for which they did not offer an explanation. Sawaki and Ogata (1977) also observed an unusual dependence of the chemiluminescence yield on the identity of added fluorescer in the base-catalyzed decomposition of or-hydroperoxyesters, for which a dioxetanone intermediate was proposed (25). 

This was further elaborated upon by Schuster and co-workers (K21, S23, S24) and by Schaap s group at Wayne State University (S6, S8, SIO, Sll, Z2, Z3). Thus, the observation that some hydroxy-substituted aromatic dioxetanes show high chemiluminescent efficiencies at alkaline pH (phenolic anionic form) led to the formulation of a third mechanism for chemiluminescent decomposition of dioxetanes. This mechanism, known initially as intramolecular electron transfer (Ml9, Z2) and subsequently as chemically initiated electron exchange luminescence, or CIEEL (FI, K20), can be best illustrated by reference to the dioxetane shown in Fig. 37, where the chemiluminescence is triggered by the addition of fluoride ions. 

Tetramethyldioxetane is the prototype for all chemiluminescent processes. It will generally be the case that a dioxetane or similar structure will be formed. Thermal decomposition of this high energy structure then produces an excited state product. Details vary, but many of the basics of Figure 16.19 will be involved. Thus, species containing a strained 0-0 bond play a special role in chemiluminescent mechanisms. For that reason, we now discuss some aspects of O2 chemistry that are relevant to the formation of dioxetanes and related species. 

The chemiluminescence of luminol and the cyclic hydrazides of aromatic and heterocyclic acids is one of the classical and perhaps still most studied of chemiluminescence reactions [1-6]. The mechanism is much more complicated than that of the more recently discovered dioxetans (Chap. V). It is therefore perhaps not surprising that the latter have attracted a far greater amount of research effort in recent times since the excitation step in dioxetan chemiluminescence offers a more acceptable interpretation of experimental results. 

Nonetheless, a dioxetan decomposition mechanism for lucigenin chemiluminescence, based on the exergonic processes described in Chap. V, seems well established [3]. A direct demonstration of the intermediacy of this dioxetane was first made [4] in 1969 by treating 10,10 -dimethyl-9,9 -biacrylidene (4) with singlet oxygen from several sources. Emission from N-methyl acridone was unequivocally shown. The lifetime of the intermediate was characteristic of the supposed dioxetane. Intramolecular electron transfer has been suggested as the excitation mechanism in the decomposition of this and other electron-rich dioxetans. 

Subsequent studies (63,64) suggested that the nature of the chemical activation process was a one-electron oxidation of the fluorescer by (27) followed by decomposition of the dioxetanedione radical anion to a carbon dioxide radical anion. Back electron transfer to the radical cation of the fluorescer produced the excited state which emitted the luminescence characteristic of the fluorescent state of the emitter. The chemical activation mechanism was patterned after the CIEEL mechanism proposed for dioxetanones and dioxetanes discussed earher (65). Additional support for the CIEEL mechanism, was furnished by demonstration (66) that a linear correlation existed between the singlet excitation energy of the fluorescer and the chemiluminescence intensity which had been shown earher with dimethyl dioxetanone (67). 

One is the concerted decomposition of a dioxetanone structure that is proposed for the chemiluminescence and bioluminescence of both firefly luciferin (Hopkins et al., 1967 McCapra et al., 1968 Shimomura et al., 1977) and Cypridina luciferin (McCapra and Chang, 1967 Shimomura and Johnson, 1971). The other is the linear decomposition mechanism that has been proposed for the bioluminescence reaction of fireflies by DeLuca and Dempsey (1970), but not substantiated. In the case of the Oplopborus bioluminescence, investigation of the reaction pathway by 180-labeling experiments has shown that one O atom of the product CO2 derives from molecular oxygen, indicating that the dioxetanone pathway takes place in this bioluminescence system as well (Shimomura et al., 1978). It appears that the involvement of a dioxetane intermediate is quite widespread in bioluminescence. 

Certain Schiff bases, i.e. 122, were synthesized as model compounds for Latia luciferin. This compound exhibits strong blue chemiluminescence ( max 385 nm) on oxidation with oxygen in DMSO/potassium t.-butylate, the main products being acetone and 2-formamido pyridine 124. The mechanism suggested by Me Capra and Wrigglesworth includes the concerted bond cleavage of a dioxetane derivative 123. 

In this part of the chapter we briefly outline the main classes of mechanisms occurring in chemiluminescent transformations of organic peroxides. The transformations involving isolated 1,2-dioxetanes and related species will not be extensively discussed, since a specific chapter is dedicated to these compounds. We therefore limit ourselves to describing the general decomposition mechanisms of these peroxides, as these are important in the context of the more complex CL systems that we will describe in the last part of this chapter. 

Lucigenin (10,10 -dimethyl-9,9 -biacridinium or bis-Af-methylacridinium (38)), in the presence of hydrogen peroxide in alkaline media, exhibits chemiluminescence with a maximum emission wavelength at 445 nm. Lucigenin chemiluminescence was first reported in 1935 by Glen and Petsch, and the 1,2-dioxetane 39 was postulated as a key intermediate. Nevertheless, the mechanism of lucigenin chemiluminescence was only elucidated by McCapra and Richardson, who also proposed the thermal decomposition... 

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