Open Access

Joachim Stauff, Fritz Nimmerfall

• The autoxidation of NaSH and Cysteine in the presence of heavy metal ions is accompanied by chemiluminescence due to the formation of O2⊖ or adequate compounds as intermediates. The observation of the luminescence intensity and its time dependence has been used as analytical indication of the occurrence of electron transfer reactions from - SH to O2. This enabled the study of the influence of different catalytic promoters. The efficiency of different metal ions could easily be demonstrated by their enhancement of light production during the reaction of NaSH with molecular oxygen. Cu (II) as one of the most efficient catalysts was also applied in the form of different complexes. Because it would catalyse the oxidation of cysteine, glutathione and other electron donors of biological interest, the influence of the nature of the ligands of the complexes was investigated. In the case of cysteine only complexes with stability constants of medium strength and planar configuration acted as effective catalysts. Therefore it has to be assumed that for an effective electron transport to the loosely bound oxygen the cysteine molecule has to enter the inner sphere of the complex. The much longer time of luminescence of this reaction (4 -10 min) compared to the short time luminescence caused by free O2H. OH and H2O2 indicates that these intermediates are stabilized by binding to the Cu (II) -complex as in compounds (I), (II) and (III) of oxidizing enzymes.