Patent ID: 7718576

Claim:
A method for detecting the presence of a peroxide compound or a free radical thereof comprising contacting an aqueous or mixed aqueous-organic solution of said peroxide compound or free radical thereof with a chemiluminescent agent and detecting the chemiluminesence generated by reaction of the chemiluminescent agent with the peroxide compound or free radical thereof to be detected, wherein said chemiluminescent agent comprises a chemiluminescent compound defined by the formula: where C* is an sp 2 coordinated carbon atom; A is defined by the formula wherein R 12 , R 13 , R 14 , R 15 , R 16 , R 17 , R 18 and R 19 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, alkoxy, aryl, alkylaryl, heteroaryl, heteroalkoxy, aldehyde, keto, amino, nitro, halo, sulfate, sulfonyl, carboxy, carboxyester, phosphate and phosphoester, each of which may be substituted or unsubstituted; Z is O; and Q is a suitable leaving group which yields a compound capable of exhibiting a chemiluminescent reaction in the presence of a peroxide or peroxide-like compound under aqueous or mixed aqueous-organic conditions, wherein the leaving group Q is an N-linked optionally substituted heterocyclic aryl moiety selected from the group consisting of imidazole, oxazole, thiazole, pyrazole, pyrimidine, purine, quinoline, isoquinoline, pyrrole, indole, pyridine, tetrazole, triazole, and carbazole, and detecting the chemiluminescence generated by reaction of said compound with said peroxide compound or free radical thereof to be detected.