Some of the chemicals are carcinogenic and incredibly dangerous when used improperly. It should also be noted that these are expensive and often difficult to obtain chemicals, best bought in bulk. They are not conducive to only making one or two glow sticks. At the very least, you should have:

This is your base and makes up the majority of the liquid in your glow sticks. It will hold the chemicals that actually glow and amplify them. Start with 10mL of DP, but know that you can double or half this for bigger or smaller sticks. This looks like water, but the chemical reaction necessary for glowing won't work in water

Youuse normal or additive dyes; make sure you're usingdyes. These dyes will not be the same color un-mixed as they are when they glow, so trust the guide given below to make your colors. There are a variety of different dyes you can use, depending on the color you want:

TCPO stands for bis (2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate, which you may need to know to purchase it. It's quite expensive to buy, but you can make it fairly cheaply if , again, you're experienced and competent around chemicals. Otherwise, making it is not advised.

Add 100 mg of sodium acetate to the mixture. If you don't have sodium acetate, an even mixture of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and sodium salicylic can effectively be used instead. When added, put the lid on and shake the bottle well.

It's important to do this step last, as it creates the chemical reaction. Put the lid back on, shake it up well, and turn off the lights. You should have a quite impressive stick/tube/container glowing ferociously in front of you.

7

Add larger quantities of TCPO and Sodium Acetate to make the reaction go on for longer. If you so desire, mess around with the recipe to see what warrants the best results. This reaction works because TCPO and Sodium Acetate release energy when combined, as they start to decay. This energy is picked up by the florescent dyes, which can convert energy into light. More of each leads to more energy and a longer reaction.