Four-Membered Rings With Two Oxygen Atoms

This chapter is dealing with the chemistry about 1,2- and 1,3-dioxetanes, even if most of what is reported concerns 1,2-dioxetane derivatives. These derivatives are becoming more and more important since their chemiluminescent properties are of great interest for imaging and detection applications. After a description of the theoretical studies made for a better understanding of the decomposition mechanism, some new data dealing with analytics and synthesis are given. This chapter ends with new updates about applications of the chemistry of 1,2-dioxetanes.