Bioluminescence: A Chemical Wonder

On this year CWW trip to the Golfo of Morrosquillo, there were a lot of interesting scientifically concepts, from the chemistry of mangroves and who they are crucial to the world, to how jagua reacts with oxygen to become a tattoo for about 15 days. But the most interesting scientific concept we saw in the trip was the chemical wonder of bioluminescence. We saw chemical reaction when we went to the natural reservoir of San Guare. In were we saw how at night when you applied movement to the water it light up with a neon color. But why does this happens, and what is the chemistry behind this wonder? This natural phenomenon happens all over the world, in all types of water bodies, from oceans to lakes. The only thing needed for this reaction is happen there must be a living organism capable of producing light from a chemical reaction. Most of the animals capable of doing this in the world are marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as some fungi, microorganism, and a few terrestrial invertebrates. But what does a living organism need to give off light when it reacts with the oxygen in the water? It needs two basic things, luciferin which is a pigment in the organism skin, and adelanyte an enzyme. These two chemicals must be in the organism when this happens, so light can be produced after energy is applied to the organism, in this case hand moving in water. But how does the hand moving in the water create light from a living organism? The first thing that happens in this reaction is luciferin and energy (hand moving in water) reacts with adenylate and turn into luciferly adenylate. When this happens an endothermic reaction takes place because the chemical structure of luciferly is rearrange in order for there to be a bigger amount of energy so light can be produced. Afterwards the luciferly adenylate (product from initial reaction) reacts with oxygen in the water, when this happens the luciferly adenylate ends up oxidizing which creates inactive oxyluciferin and photons which end up giving light. This chemical reaction is also an endothermic one because it gives off energy in the form of light, in the end of the reaction.

There are many natural phenomenon around the world that surprise human beings, form plants that change color to organism that can turn invisible in matter of seconds. But one of the most beautiful ones is Bioluminescence. This is a chemical reaction which happens when an organism that has luciferin a pigment and adelanyte an enzyme, reacts with oxygen and oxidases creating inactive oxyluciferin and photons which end up giving off light. This reaction is also a very important for the organism that creates it because it sometimes used as aid to create light when they are in dark areas and do not know where to go. So if you ever find yourself at night in salty bodies of water just shake your hand and enjoy the view!