Luciferin absorption maxima

Properties of Latia luciferin. Latia luciferin is a highly hydrophobic, fat-soluble compound, and volatile under vacuum. It is a colorless liquid, with an absorption maximum at 207nm (s approx. 13,700 Fig. 6.1.2). The chemical structure of Latia luciferin has been determined to be 1 (C15H24O2), an enol formate of a terpene aldehyde 3 (Fig. 6.1.3 Shimomura and Johnson, 1968b). The enol formate group of Latia luciferin is unstable the luciferin is spontaneously hydrolyzed... 

Odontosyllis luciferin is colorless and shows an absorption maximum at about 330 nm in aqueous ethanol (Figs. 7.2.1 and 7.2.2), and it undergoes various spectrum changes upon spontaneous oxidation... 

According to the Kuwabara-Wassink paper, the purified luciferin in aqueous neutral buffer solution showed an absorption maximum at 320 nm, and a fluorescence emission peak at 490 nm. The luminescence emission maximum measured with Airth s fungal luciferase system was 524 nm at pH 6.5, whereas the chemiluminescence emission maximum of the luciferin with H2O2 plus a droplet of strong NaOH plus ferrous sulfate was 542 nm. No information was reported on the chemical nature of the luciferin. 

Properties of luciferin. The crystals are microscopic needles, which melt with decomposition at 205-210°C (Bitler and McElroy, 1957). It is a quite stable luciferin compared with some other luciferins, such as Cypridina luciferin and the luciferins of krill and dinoflagellates. It is not significantly affected by lOmM H2SO4 and lOmM NaOH at room temperature in air. The absorption spectral data of luciferin are shown in Fig. 1.3 (McElroy and Seliger, 1961). The molar absorption coefficient of the 328 nm peak in acidic solutions and that of the 384 nm peak in basic solutions are both 18,200 (Morton et al., 1969). Luciferin is fluorescent, showing an emission maximum at 537 nm in both acidic and basic conditions, although the intensity of the fluorescence is lower in acidic solution than in basic solution (fluorescence quantum yields 0.62 in basic condition, and 0.25 in acidic condition Morton et al., 1969). The chemical synthesis... 

The solution of purified dinoflagellate luciferin is yellow, showing absorption maxima at 245 and 390nm in an aqueous solution and at 241 and 388 nm in 40% acetonitrile containing 85 mM NaCl and 3 mM NaHCOs (Fig. 8.4). The compound is strongly fluorescent in blue (excitation maximum at 390 nm, emission maximum at 474 nm Fig. 8.5). The properties of this luciferin are nearly identical with those of the compound F of euphausiid shrimps (Section 3.2). The luciferin is rapidly oxidized in the presence of a trace of oxygen, and also inactivated by a weak acid, even by an acidity of pH 4 or the acidity... 

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