Mechanistic Insight into the Chemiluminescent Decomposition of Cypridina Dioxetanone and the Chemiluminescent, Fluorescent Properties of the Light Emitter of Cypridina Bioluminescence

Cypridina bioluminescence has been increasingly used in bioimaging, bioanalysis, and biomedicine, due to high quantum yield and high signal-to-noise ratio. However, there is still no consensus regarding different aspects of the chemiluminescent mechanism of this system, which impairs the development of new applications. Herein, we have used a theoretical DFT and TD-DFT approach to (i) determine the identity of the dioxetanone species responsible for efficient chemiexcitation and (ii) identify the bioluminescent emitter and determine if light-emission occurs from the fluorescent or chemiluminescent state. Our results demonstrate that upon oxygenation of the imidazopyrazinone scaffold, a dioxetanone with a neutral amide group and a cationic guanidinopropyl group is formed. This species is efficiently chemiexcited (with no obvious charge transfer step) to the corresponding oxyluciferin with a neutral amide and cationic guanidinopropyl groups. After the dark chemiluminescent state, this oxyluciferin species is converted into a bright blue-emitting fluorescent state.