The acridinedione dyes have been known as efficient laser dyes. A stud
y of the photophysical processes is required to understand the charact
ersitics and identify better lasing dyes in the class. The absorption
and fluorescence characteristics of the dyes have been studied. The fl
uorescence quantum yields are high due to the fairly rigid structure a
nd the substitution on the nitrogen and in the 9-position are found to
alter the quantum yields. The non-radiative rate constants are higher
when substituted by aryl groups in the 9-position and on the nitrogen
. The triplet-triplet absorption maxima and the triplet lifetime show
variation depending on the substitution. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V
. All rights reserved.