Solvent quenching effects

The mechanical flame barriers, which are used for explosion isolation of flammable gas and solvent vapor explosions, are veiy susceptible to the action of dirt and, with one exception, are thus not suitable for dust-canying pipelines. The exception involves the rotaiy valve (see Fig. 26-45), which is based on the flame-quenching effect through narrow gaps and is mainly used at product charging and discharging points. 

A similar but smaller intramolecular quenching effect was seen by Phillips and co-workers 44,4S) for 1-vinylnaphthalene copolymers incapable of excimer fluorescence. The monomer fluorescence lifetime of the 1-naphthyl group in the methyl methacrylate copolymer 44) was 20% less than the lifetime of 1-methylnaphthalene in the same solvent, tetrahydrofuran. However, no difference in lifetimes was observed between the 1-vinylnaphthalene/methyl acrylate copolymer 45) and 1-methylnaphthalene. To summarize, the nonradiative decay rate of excited singlet monomer in polymers, koM + k1M, may not be identical to that of a monochromophoric model compound, especially when the polymer contains quenching moieties and the solvent is fluid enough to allow rapid intramolecular quenching to occur. 

The quenching effects can be produced by splvents in absence of any other added quenchers. Polar solvents may involve chemical interactions of the type... 

For general purpose tracer work, however, and particularly in polymer chemistry, the liquid scintillation counter surpasses all other instruments in its sensitivity and adaptability. There is no question on the author s mind that at the present time such an instrument would be the first choice, particularly where tritium, carbon-14 or sulphur-35 were involved. Samples for assay are dissolved in a phosphor whose major solvent usually consists of toluene, toluene-alcohol, or dioxan. Many polymers and low molecular weight compounds are readily soluble in these solvents. Prospective users should not be deterred by alleged complications due to "variable quench effects" as these effects are readily corrected for via internal or external standards or the channels ratio method (7, 46, 91). Dilution quench corrections, though valid, are tedious and unnecessary. Where samples are insoluble in phosphor they may be suspended (e.g. as gels or as paper cut from chromatograms, etc.) or they can be burnt and the combustion products absorbed in a suitable phosphor solution. A modification of the Schoniger flask combustion technique is particularly suitable for this purpose (43—45). 

The enrichment of the concentration of the polar solvent component in the cage and, therefore, the relative amount of the red shift of the fluorescence band is a function of viscosity, since the diffusion-controlled reaction time must be smaller than the excited-state lifetime. This lifetime limitation of the red shift is even more severe if the higher value of the excited-state dipole moment is not a property of the initial Franck-Condon state but of the final state of an adiabatic reaction. Nevertheless, the additional red shift has been observed for the fluorescence of TICT biradical excited states due to their nanosecond lifetime together with a quenching effect of the total fluorescence since the A to 50 transition is weak (symmetry forbidden) (Fig. 2.25). 

Fig. 2.25. Quenching effect on the short-wavelength FB fluorescence band of two different TICT state-forming compounds by adding traces of a polar solvent P to a nonpolar solution. Successive spectra correspond to repeated addition of small amounts of n-butyronitrile to initially 50 mL n-hexane solution, 5 x 10 6M/L. Note the strong difference in response observed for the two solutes.

A new probe of solvent accessibility of bound sensitizers has been described and tested for the particular case of a series of Ru" and Os photosensitizers bound to sodium lauryl sulphate micelles. The method depends upon the large solvent deuterium effect on excited-state lifetimes, and a correlation has been established between accessibility of bound complexes and hydrophobicity of the ligands. Luminescence properties of amphiphilic annelide-type complexes of ruthenium in micellar phases have been described. In the case of [4,4 -bis(nonadecyl)-2,2 -bipyridyl]bis-[4,4 -di-(10,13,16-trioxaundecyl)-2,2 -bipyridyl]ruthenium dichloride, intramicellar self-quenching effects have an influence on the excited-state lifetime, and the mechanism of self-quenching has been determined. Deactivation of [Ru(bipy)3] by [Co(EDTA)] has been studied in a micellar environment and found to occur by electron transfer at diffusion-controlled rates a stereoselective effect has been observed. ... 

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