Collision fluorescence

Thus, reaction (8.30) could specify either an excited singlet or triplet S02. The excited state may, of course, degrade by internal transfer to a vibration-ally excited ground state that is later deactivated by collision, or it may be degraded directly by collisions. Fluorescence of S02 has not been observed above 2100 A. The collisional deactivation steps known to exist in laboratory experiments are not listed here in order to minimize the writing of reaction steps. 

Experimental access to the probabilities P(E ,E) for energy transfer in large molecules usually involves teclmiques providing just the first moment of this distribution, i.e. the average energy (AE) transferred in a collision. Such methods include UV absorption, infrared fluorescence and related spectroscopic teclmiques [11. 28. 71. 72, 73 and 74]. More advanced teclmiques, such as kinetically controlled selective ionization (KCSI [74]) have also provided infonnation on higher moments of P(E ,E), such as ((AE) ). 

Figure Cl.4.13. Trap modulation experiment showing much greater deptli of ion intensity modulation (by more tlian one order of magnitude) tlian fluorescence or atom number modulation, demonstrating tliat excited atoms are not tire origin of tire associative ionizing collisions.

Figure 9.33 Single vibronic level fluorescence spectra obtained by collision-lree emission Irom the zero-point level of the state of (a) pyrazine and (b) perdeuteropyrazine. (Reproduced, with permission, Ifom Udagawa, Y., Ito, M. and Suzuka, I., Chem. Phys., 46, 237, 1980)...

As indicated in Fig. 21.3, for both atomic absorption spectroscopy and atomic fluorescence spectroscopy a resonance line source is required, and the most important of these is the hollow cathode lamp which is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 21.8. For any given determination the hollow cathode lamp used has an emitting cathode of the same element as that being studied in the flame. The cathode is in the form of a cylinder, and the electrodes are enclosed in a borosilicate or quartz envelope which contains an inert gas (neon or argon) at a pressure of approximately 5 torr. The application of a high potential across the electrodes causes a discharge which creates ions of the noble gas. These ions are accelerated to the cathode and, on collision, excite the cathode element to emission. Multi-element lamps are available in which the cathodes are made from alloys, but in these lamps the resonance line intensities of individual elements are somewhat reduced. 

As discussed in the previous chapter, the Phen residue in APh-x forms the CT complex with MV2 + in aqueous solution [76]. Interestingly, the CT formation is suppressed in the poly(A/St/Phen)-MV2+ system in spite of the Phen fluorescence being quenched by MV2 + very effectively. This fact indicates that it becomes very less likely for the Phen moiety to come into a face-to-face contact with MV2+, while the fluorescence from the compartmentalized Phen residue can be quenched effectively via a collision-less ET to MV2 +. ... 

Though theories have been proposed (32-35) to explain this phenomenon, the mechanism of fluorescence is still not yet fully understood. Jankow and Willis (36) proposed a mechanism which involves a direct excitation of the molecule or an impurity to an excited state, followed by internal conversion and then reversion back to the original state with emission of light. This mechanism can be explained as follows A molecule in the lowest vibrational level of the ground state A is transferred to a certain vibrational level in the excited state D. The molecule tends to cascade into the lowest vibrational level of state D by collisions with other excited molecules. It passes from state D to state C and then to state B by radiationless transi-... 

Figure 1.5. Femtosecond spectroscopy of bimolecular collisions. The cartoon shown in (a illustrates how pump and probe pulses initiate and monitor the progress of H + COj->[HO. .. CO]->OH + CO collisions. The huild-up of OH product is recorded via the intensity of fluorescence excited hy the prohe laser as a function of pump-prohe time delay, as presented in (h). Potential energy curves governing the collision between excited Na atoms and Hj are given in (c) these show how the Na + H collision can proceed along two possible exit channels, leading either to formation of NaH + H or to Na + H by collisional energy exchange.

The subject of delayed fluorescence was discussed in Section 5.2a. It was seen that there are two common types of delayed fluorescence, that arising from thermally activated return from the triplet state to the lowest excited singlet (E-type delayed fluorescence) and that arising from collision of two excited triplet molecules resulting in a singlet excited molecule and a ground state molecule (P-type delayed fluorescence). The P-type delayed fluorescence can be used as a convenient tool for the determination of intersystem crossing efficiencies[Pg.125]

In addition to measuring total recombination coefficients, experimentalists seek to determine absolute or relative yields of specific recombination products by emission spectroscopy, laser induced fluorescence, and optical absorption. In most such measurements, the products suffer many collisions between their creation and detection and nothing can be deduced about their initial translational energies. Limited, but important, information on the kinetic energies of the nascent products can be obtained by examination of the widths of emitted spectral lines and by... 

Figure 4.9 illustrates time-gated imaging of rotational correlation time. Briefly, excitation by linearly polarized radiation will excite fluorophores with dipole components parallel to the excitation polarization axis and so the fluorescence emission will be anisotropically polarized immediately after excitation, with more emission polarized parallel than perpendicular to the polarization axis (r0). Subsequently, however, collisions with solvent molecules will tend to randomize the fluorophore orientations and the emission anistropy will decrease with time (r(t)). The characteristic timescale over which the fluorescence anisotropy decreases can be described (in the simplest case of a spherical molecule) by an exponential decay with a time constant, 6, which is the rotational correlation time and is approximately proportional to the local solvent viscosity and to the size of the fluorophore. Provided that... 

Fluorescence quenching may be dynamic, if the photochemical process is the result of a collision between the photoexcited indicator dye and the quencher species, or static, when the luminophore and the quencher are preassociated before photoexcitation of the former20. It may be easily demonstrated that dynamic quenching in isotropic 3-D medium obeys the so-called Stem-Volmer equation (2)21 ... 

Very weak chemiluminescence (quantum yields of 6.5.. . 9.1 X 10-10) in the spectral ranges 400. 540 nm (benzaldehyde phosphorescence) and 600 nm (emission from excited singlet oxygen collision pairs)) was also observed on thermolysis of 5 with no fluorescer present. 

Subsequent to the formation of a potentially chemiluminescent molecule in its lowest excited state, a series of events carries the molecule down to its ground electronic state. Thermal deactivation of the excited molecule causes the molecule to lose vibrational energy by inelastic collisions with the solvent this is known as thermal or vibrational relaxation. Certain molecules may return radia-tionlessly all the way to the ground electronic state in a process called internal conversion. Some molecules cannot return to the ground electronic state by internal conversion or vibrational relaxation. These molecules return to the ground excited state either by the direct emission of ultraviolet or visible radiation (fluorescence), or by intersystem crossing from the lowest excited singlet to the lowest triplet state. 

In order to record excitation spectra, the radical ions must first be thermalized to the electronic ground state, which happens automatically if they are created in condensed phase (e.g. in noble-gas matrices, see below). In the gas-phase experiments where ionization is effected by collision with excited argon atoms (Penning ionization), the unexcited argon atoms serve as a heat bath which may even be cooled to 77 K if desired. After thermalization, excitation spectra may be obtained by laser-induced fluorescence. 

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