STEREOSPECIFICITY AND FIREFLY BIOLUMINESCENCE, A COMPARISON OF NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC LUCIFERINS

Abstract
Syn-thetic firefly luciferin and dehydroluciferin (oxyluciferin) have been prepared for the first time and the structures are given. The physical and biochemical evidence establishing the identity of the synthetic with the natural products is presented, and the stereo-specificity in the bioluminescent reaction is described.