Singlet molecular oxygen in the Haber-Weiss reaction.

Characteristic chemiluminescence emission of singlet (1 delta g) molecular oxygen at 1268 nm is reported from a Haber-Weiss reaction. The reaction consists of mixing aqueous hydrogen peroxide with a solution of potassium superoxide, solubilized by 18-crown-6 ether in carbon tetrachloride or in dry acetonitrile at room temperature. Since the discovery of the enzyme superoxide dismutase by J.M. McCord and I. Fridovich [(1968) J. Biol. Chem. 243, 5733-5760], the identity of the reactive oxidant in superoxide-generating systems in biology has remained a chemical mystery. The results presented here suggest strongly that the reactive species is singlet oxygen generated via the Haber-Weiss reaction and not, as usually assumed, the hydroxyl radical, .OH, generated by the same reaction.