Higher triplet excited states, energy transfer

Several routes are possible to populate the triplet state. The triplet excited state can, in principle, be directly excited from the ground state, but a low extinction coefficient associated with the S0 to T, transition (reflected in the long lifetime) makes direct excitation an inefficient process for tryptophan. The triplet state can be thermally populated, but for tryptophan the large energy gap between the ground state and the triplet state makes this process unfavorable. Energy transfer from a higher state can also populate the... 

The transient absorption formed from laser flash photolysis of 15 was not quenched in oxygen-saturated solutions, presumably because the photoenolization to form 16 takes place from a singlet excited state of 15. Furthermore, Schworer and Wirz did not observe any transient absorption that can be attributed to the formation of the triplet excited state of 15 from direct irradiation. In contrast. Hurley and Testa used energy transfer to estimate that the triplet excited state of 15 is formed in 67% yield,whereas Takezaki et al. have measured the yields for forming the triplet excited state of 15 to be slightly higher or above 80%. They estimated the lifetime of the lowest triplet excited state of 15 to be 350 ps in ethanol. 

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