Electrogenerated chemiluminescence: A molecular electrochemistry point of view

The history of light emission triggered by electrochemical reactions, the so-called electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL), spans over 50 years and the relevance of the molecular approach to the development of the field can hardly be overlooked. Molecular electrochemists' contribution has mainly focused on unraveling fundamental aspects associated to the mechanisms of ECL as well as on singling out new luminophores/coreactants systems to achieve higher efficiency and stability, with important consequences in the analytical exploitation of this technique. The latest and most important investigations on electrogenerated chemiluminescence which concern, in particular, inorganic and organic luminophores and the relevant mechanistic models and simulations are briefly reviewed.