phthalate as the activator solvent to provide enhancements over the prior art chemiluminescent systems these enhancements are manifested in terms of the rate of light production e g the 34 flatness 34 of the light output profile and the total light output achieved during a device 39 s useful life in a preferred embodiment the unreacted acid content of esterified solutions useful as activators in chemiluminescent systems should be no greater than 0 05 weight percent the activator solutions of the instant invention also provide triethyl citrates of sufficient purity in terms of the absence of carbon double bond compounds to provide enhanced light generation and increased total light output as compared to prior art chemiluminescent systems this effect is further enhanced by inclusion of a catalyst system containing an equimolar mixture of sodium perborate and salicylic acid in either a citrate or phthalate based system in a particular embodiment the chemical light system of the present invention provides enhanced generation of light in a phthalate free system application_number US 27101999 A description in accordance with the present invention an activator component is provided which contains a peroxide or a peroxide producing constituent incorporated within a citrate based activator solvent the citrate based solvents which yield enhanced total light output and a flatter light output profile may be selected from triethyl citrates of varying purity especially those having less than or equal to 0 05 weight percent unreacted acid and.