Determination of photophysical rate constants for the non-protected fluid room temperature phosphorescence of several naphthalene derivatives

The determination of kinetic parameters for luminescence processes is very important in understanding the phosphorescence process and the mechanisms o f the heavy atom effect (HAE). In our previous work, we reported that room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) emission of many naphthalene derivatives can be induced directly from their aqueous solution without using any kind of protective medium, and the name Non-Protected Fluid Room Temperature Pho sphorescence (NP-RTP) is suggested for this new type of RTP emission. In or der to further understand this kind of luminescence phenomenon, the influen ce of heavy atom perturber (HAP) concentration on RTP lifetime of several n aphthalene derivatives was studied in detail in this paper. The possibility of determination of photophysical parameters for emission of NP-RTP was ex plored based on the definition on the phosphorescence lifetime and the rela tion with the concentration of HAP in this paper. A static Stern-Volmer equ ation for phosphorescence was derived and the luminescence kinetic paramete rs were calculated. The results obtained by two different ways proved that photophysical parameters for RTP emission can be determined based on the ch anges of the RTP lifetime. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserv ed.