Solution absorption and luminescence studies of tetraphenylboron, -carbon, -silicon, -germanium, -tin, -lead, -phosphorus, -arsenic,and -antimony

The lowest absorption band of the tetraphenyl compounds resembles that of the lowest absorption band of benzene with the following difference. In benzene the electronic origin is strictly forbidden, and all intensity is associated with a symmetric progression built on one mode of asymmetric vibration. In the tetraphenyl compounds the intensity associated with the asymmetric vibration is relatively unaffected; however, there is increasing intensity associated with the electronic origin and a symmetric progression built on it along the series

$\text{φ}{}_4\text{Pb}\text{< φ}{}_4\text{Sn}\text{< φ}{}_4\text{Ge}\text{< φ}{}_4\text{Si}\text{< φ}{}_4\text{C}\text{? φ}{}_4\text{B}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{< φ}{}_4\text{Sb}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{< φ}{}_4\text{As}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{< φ}{}_4\text{P}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$

. For the cations it is the electronic origin and the progression built on it that are the primary source of intensity. This effect is attributed to an inductive perturbation. A similar effect is observed in the fluorescence spectrum. In phosphorescence, the relative enhancement of the electronic origin and the progression built on it is far less marked. The phosphorescence emission of φ₄Pb and φ₄Sb⁺ are red shifted from the others by ～0.5 eV, an effect attributed to formation of a triplet excimer. Increasing spin-orbit coupling in the triplet due to a heavy atom effect can be seen in the decreasing phosphorescence lifetime (range 4 sec to 4 msec) and decreasing ratio of $\text{φ}{}_{\mathrm{f}}\text{φ}{}_{\mathrm{p}}$ (fluorescence to phosphorescence quantum yields) in the order

$\text{φ}{}_4\text{C}\text{> φ}{}_4\text{B}\text{> φ}{}_4\text{Si}\text{> φ}{}_4\text{P}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{> φ}{}_4\text{Ge}\text{> φ}{}_4\text{As}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{> φ}{}_4\text{Sn}$

In all cases nonexponential decay of phosphorescence is observed.