Standardization of an Aqueous Light Source Containing Luminol: Application to Measurument of Quantum Yields of Bioluminescent Reactions

Abstract

A secondary liquid light standard containing luminol was calibrated at various temperatures and used to determine the photon quantum yields of some bioluminescent reactions. It was found that lOμM luminol in 0.009N NaOH emitted 1.2×10¹⁰ (±12%) quanta/ml/sec at the peak of light emission through an interference filter of peak light transmittance of 36% at 460mμ and band width of 12mμ, on reaction with 200μM ferricyanide in the presence of 4m_M H₂O₂ at 20°C. A linear relationship was found between the peak light emission and the luminol concentration of a wide range. Convenient use of this light standard in determination of the photon quantum yields of some bioluminescent reactions is also reported and the values obtained were in reasonable agreement with those measured in other ways by previous workers.