Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Luminous Chemicals

trinitrotoluene - 3-11-2002 at 18:50

Other then Strontium Aluminate and Zinc Sulfide, I was wonder what is the chemicals used in those glow sticks where u bend the stick the glass tubing inside the stick breaks and it glows. Im wondering what other chemicals thats used in glow sticks?

Search

PrimoPyro - 3-11-2002 at 20:04

http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa040902a.htm

http://www.howstuffworks.com/light-stick4.htm

http://www.google.com

What the hell?

PrimoPyro - 3-11-2002 at 20:06

Why does this board add characters out of nowhere every time I post a url? this "/>" character makes the url invalid.

For the links posted above, just copy and paste them into a browser window minus the /> symbols and they will work fine.

How do you post urls without this added garbage?

PrimoPyro

Polverone - 3-11-2002 at 20:32

You put a nifty little BBCode tag around it. Like this:
[url]http://www.google.com[/url]

(won't actually show up as a link because I've disabled BBCode for illustrative purposes in this post)

Aaron.j.hard - 19-5-2011 at 03:24

LUMINOL is a great chemical luminescent substance,
Try Nurdrage's luminol synthesis on Youtube, great synthesis with OTC chemicals.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=58Ve69s0qD0


[Edited on 17-04-2011 by Aaron.j.hard]

[Edited on 17-04-2011 by Aaron.j.hard]

Rogeryermaw - 19-5-2011 at 09:16

Bis-2,4,6-(trichlorophenyl)oxalate, sodium acetate, ethyl acetate or similar solvent, and 9,10-bis(phenylethenyl)anthracene make up the goo in the tube and the glass vial inside it contains 30% H2O2.

this process is also well documented on nurdrage's boob tube page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/NurdRage#p/u/4/tItOOpyJP5k

ItalianChemist - 19-5-2011 at 09:57

Quote: Originally posted by Rogeryermaw  
Bis-2,4,6-(trichlorophenyl)oxalate, sodium acetate, ethyl acetate or similar solvent, and 9,10-bis(phenylethenyl)anthracene make up the goo in the tube and the glass vial inside it contains 30% H2O2.

I've tried this one! It's like a light bulb :cool:

simba - 20-5-2011 at 18:08

Radioactive chemicals are also luminous :D

White Yeti - 1-8-2011 at 05:29

You mentioned scintillators, those chemicals only glow in the presence of UV and particle radiation. They have nothing to do with glow sticks.

Dr.Bob - 3-8-2011 at 11:23

Quote: Originally posted by Rogeryermaw  
Bis-2,4,6-(trichlorophenyl)oxalate, sodium acetate, ethyl acetate or similar solvent, and 9,10-bis(phenylethenyl)anthracene make up the goo in the tube and the glass vial inside it contains 30% H2O2.


The solvent in the commercial sticks is usually butyl phthalate or another very viscous liquid, which slows down the reaction kinetics, so the sticks glow longer, but dimmer. And the dye used determines the color, so it varies with the color emitted. bis(2,4-dinitrophenyl)oxalate also works well, and is safer to make for home experiments. The H2O2 is usually a low percentage, but anhydrous, and dissolved in an organic solvent, again, usually something viscous and less combustible like a phthalate or other non-reactive ester. Since it is in the glass ampule inside the tube, it does not react until it breaks.

Once the H2O2 reacts with one oxalate, it kicks out the phenol, which is an excellent leaving group, and forms the peroxyester, which then cyclizes back to kick out the other phenol and form a 4 membered ring, which can only open by the excited state pathway, generating an excited state CO2 which then passes its excitation to the dye, which emits light.

Sorry, but BobDraw leaves a lot to be desired.

R-O-C(=O)-C(=O)-OR -----> R-O-C(=O)-C(=O)-O-O-H

R-O-C(=O)-C(=O)-O-O-H -----> O=C-C=O
| |
O-O

O=C-C=O O=C=O +
| | ----->
O-O O=C=O*

See the Woodward-Hoffmann Rules for the details of why a 4 membered ring cannot break open by thermal means.

http://books.google.com/books?id=K-EAvO9HAncC&pg=PA455&a...

Bob

[Edited on 3-8-2011 by Dr.Bob]