CHEMILUMINESCENCE OF TETRAKIS‐(DIMETHYLAMINO)‐ETHYLENE

Abstract

Abstract— The dependence of the chemiluminescence intensity of tetrakis‐(dimethylamino)‐ethylene (TDE) on the concentration of TDE and methanol activator has been shown to be to the second power for each compound. In addition to being activated by methanol, a quenching rate constant of 9.3 times 10 8 / M /sec for methanol on the excited state of TDE was shown to cause a decrease of chemiluminescence intensity at high concentrations. Chemical reactions of TDE di‐cation in basic solutions indicated that a disproportionation occurs which produces a 50 per cent yield of TDE. On the basis of the kinetics and chemistry of TDE, a mechanism of chemiluminescence is proposed in which the excited state of TDE is produced by a bisdimethylaminocarbene dimerization.