Mechanism of activation and catalysis of chemiluminescence by Eu(fod)3 chelate in thermal decomposition of adamantylideneadamantane-1,2-dioxetane

Complexation of the chelate both with dioxetane and with adamantanone (2), the product of decomposition of dioxetane, have an important effect on chemiluminescence (CL) in thermal decomposition of adamantylideneadamantane-1,2-dioxetane (1) in the presence of Eu(fod)₃ chelate. The stability constants of Eu(fod)₃·1 and Eu(fod)₃·2 complexes were obtained. It was found that Eu(fod)₃ catalyzes and activates chemiluminescent decomposition of1. The rate constant (k₂) of decomposition of the Eu(III)·1 complex was determined from the kinetics of quenching of CL, and the activation parameters were determined from the temperature curve. Luminescence from the⁵D_1-level of the Eu(III) ion was detected in the CL spectrum and was correlated with direct (bypassing the triplet of the ligand) transfer of excitation energy from2 _t* to the luminescent levels of Eu(III) in the geometrically distorted complex Eu(fod)₃·2.Institute of Organic Chemistry, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 450054 Ufa. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 1056–1063, May, 1992.