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The Chemical Educator
ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)
Abstract Volume 6
Issue 2 (2001) pp 97-99
The Oxidation of Luminol an Experiment to Maximize the Efficiency of Chemiluminescence from Luminol
Carlos Bustos,* Guillermo Salgado, and Cecilia López
*Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile, Deutsche
Schule Santiago, Casilla 129, Correo 30, Santiago, Chile
Received September 25, 2000. Accepted January 17, 2001
Published online: 16 February 2001
Abstract. In this work,
seven inorganic salts, KCl, Na2SO4, MgSO4·7H2O,
ZnCl2, Na2CrO4, CuSO4·5H2O,
and K3[Fe(CN)6], were used as catalysts to induce
chemiluminescent luminol oxidation in alkaline aqueous media. It was observed
that simple salts containing either Mg2+, Zn2+,
Na+ and K+ cations or SO42–
and Cl– anions, are not active as catalysts. On the other hand,
the relative order of activity detected for the active chemiluminescent
salts containing Fe(III), Cu(II)and Cr(VI) cations is K3[Fe(CN)6]
> CuSO4·5H2O> Na2CrO4.
The intensity of the emitted light agrees with the standard reduction
potentials of the corresponding redox couple and with the presence of
paramagnetic species in the aqueous solutions. The inhibition effect of
mannitol was also studied.
Key Words: Laboratories and Demonstrations; general chemistry; inorganic salts; chemiluminescent salts
(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: cbustos@uach.cl)
Article in PDF format (170 KB) HTML format
Issue date: April 6, 2001
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