The Luminescence of Biological Systems

This volume is a report of a conference that was limited to a small group of the leading investigators in the field of luminescence. The book includes a survey chapter on the prospects and problems of bioluminescence; a number of chapters on the application of recent interpretations of electronic states and transitions to the role of chlorophyll and other photosynthetic pigments in energy transfer; a chapter dealing with the chemiluminescence of 2,3-dihydrophthalazine-1,4-diones; a chapter on the spectroscopic investigations of luminescent systems (chiefly on the firefly and luminescent bacteria), including discussions on purification and properties of luciferase, inhibition and activation of luminescence, and physiological control of luminescence; a single chapter describing the luminous organisms of Japan and the Far East; and two final chapters dealing with the ecology of marine dinoflagellates and "red water" conditions. The volume includes both author and subject indexes.