Table 3 — Types of Oxyluminescent Reactions
1. Oxidation in air spontaneously.
(a) At ordinary temperatures. [Phosphorus. Fresh-cut surfaces of Na or K. Thiophosgene and Thio-ethers (RCS.OR).]
(b) At melting or vaporizing points. (Fats, terpenes, sugars, resins, gums, ether, silk and others.)
2. Oxidation in aqueous or alcoholic alkalies. (Many organic substances.)
3. Oxidation in hypoiodites, hypobromites, or hypochlorites. (Many organic substances.)
4. Oxidation in peroxides (H2O2 or Na2O2). (Many organic substances.)
5. Oxidation in ozone. (Many organic substances.)
6. Oxidation in acid permanganate. (Pyrogallol.)
7. Oxidation in persulfates and perborates. (Formaldehyde, paraformaldehyde.)
8. Oxidation in perchlorates, periodates, and perbromates. (Palmitic acid.)
9. Combination of 2 and 4. (Many organic substances.)
10. Combination of 3 and 4. (Many organic substances.)
11. Oxidation with H2O2 and hæmoglobin or vegetable oxidases. (Pyrogallol, gallic acid, lophin, esculin.)
12. Oxidation with H2O2 and MnO2, Fe2Fe(CN)6 Mn(OH)2 + Mn(OH)3 Ag2O, chromium oxide, cobalt oxide. (Pyrogallol.)
13. Oxidation with H2O2 and ferrocyanides, chromates, bichromates, permanganates, Fe salts, and Cr salts. (Pyrogallol, esculin.)
14. Oxidation with H2O2 and collodial Ag. Pt. Pd. Au. (Pyrogallol.)
The spectrum of chemiluminescent reactions has been described in a few instances as continuous but no definite measurements of its extent have been made. Radziszewski (1880) found the light of lophin oxidized in alcoholic caustic alkali, examined with a two-prism spectroscope, to give a continuous spectrum, brightest at E, with the red and violet ends lacking. Trautz (1905, p. 101) states that the pyrogallol-formaldehyde-Na2CO3-H2O2 reaction gives a continuous spectrum from the red to the blue green with maximum brightness in the orange. Weiser (1918 a) has studied the spectra of some chemiluminescent reactions by photographing the light behind a series of color screens. He finds also that the spectra are short, with maximum intensity in various regions. Thus, amarin oxidized by chlorine or bromine, extends from the yellow to greenish blue with a maximum in the green while phosphorus, dissolved in glacial acetic acid and oxidized with H2O2, luminesces from yellow green to violet.
The spectra of luminous animals are quite similar to those of chemiluminescent reactions. Moreover, as we have seen, chemiluminescence is essentially an oxyluminescence, since oxygen is necessary for the reaction. All luminous animals also require oxygen for light production. Therefore, bioluminescence and chemiluminescence are similar phenomena and they differ from all the other forms of luminescence which we have considered. The light from luminous animals is due to the oxidation of some substance produced in their cells, and when we can write the structural formula of this photogenic substance and tell how the oxidation proceeds, the problem of light production in animals will be solved.