Metastable molecular hydrogen reactions

In aprotic media, only molecular oxygen and a strong base are needed to produce chemiluminescence from luminol. In such media, an important intermediate in the reaction is the dianion of luminol, which can be oxidized by oxygen, resulting in the formation of the diazaquinone 27 and deprotonated hydrogen peroxide. The subsequent nucleophilic attack by hydrogen peroxide dianion to one of the diazaquinone carbonyls gives rise to the formation of a metastable peroxidic intermediate that, by several steps, results in chemiexcited 3-aminophthalate (Scheme 16)123,174, iso ... 

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