If you have yearned for a (relatively) simple and cheap way to make (almost) everyone’s favorite substance that’s all a-glow, this study will (probably) meet your needs:
“A Practical, Biomimetic, One-Pot Synthesis of Firefly Luciferin,” Maria Kato, Kazuaki Tsuchihashi, Shusei Kanie, Yuichi Oba, and Toshio Nishikawa, Scientific Reports, vol. 14, 2024, article 30461. The authors explain:
“The pale light emitted by bioluminescent beetles such as fireflies and click beetles is produced by the oxidation reaction of D-luciferin with luciferase in the presence of ATP, Mg2+ and molecular oxygen (O2)… [It] has become an indispensable imaging technique in modern biology and life science experiments, but the high cost of D-luciferin is limiting its further application. Here, we report a practical, one-pot synthesis of D-luciferin from p-benzoquinone (p-BQ), L-cysteine methyl ester and D-cysteine, with an overall yield of 46%.”