Tetrabromohydroquinone and riboflavin are possibly responsible for green luminescence in the luminous acorn worm, Ptychodera flava.

Akira Kanakubo, Kazushi Koga, Minoru Isobe, Kenji Yoza

Index: Luminescence 20(6) , 397-400, (2005)

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Abstract

2,3,5,6-Tetrabromohydroquinone was isolated as a luminous substance from Ptychodera flava. This compound emitted light after addition of hydrogen peroxide under basic conditions. Since hydroquinone had no fluorescence, further investigation by spectral analysis revealed that riboflavin was the only possible light emitter having green fluorescence. In the presence of both tetrabromohydroquinone and riboflavin under a basic condition containing 70% 1,4-dioxane, green light emission was observed following the addition of hydrogen peroxide. We succeeded in recording the same emission spectrum as that in the bioluminescence caused by the addition of aqueous diluted hydrogen peroxide solution in P. flava.(c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.