Luminescence of carbon monoxide hemocyanins.

The effect of carbon monoxide on the luminescence properties of Helix pomatia alpha-hemocyanin and Panulirus interruptus hemocyanin has been studied. These proteins, when saturated with carbon monoxide, show, besides the intrinsic fluorescence arising from the aromatic amino acid residues, emission in the visible region with a maximum between 540 and 560 nm. Results of carbon monoxide titration experiments and data from absorption and excitation-emission spectra provide convincing evidence that the observed emission originates from a fluorescent copper(I)-carbon monoxide complex, and this emission is interpreted as charge-transfer luminescence.