Deuterium isotope effect in the T1 → S0 radiationless transition of propynal in the gas phase

The phosphorescence lifetimes of propynal-h₁ and propynal-d₁ have been measured at room temperature in the 40 mTorr-1 Torr pressure range The reciprocal of the zero-pressure lifetime (k₀) is (3.10 ± 0.05) × 10³ and (1.70 ± 0.04) × 10³ s^?1 for propynal-h₁ and propynal-d¹ For both compounds the rate constant for self-quenching between triplet and ground-state molecules is k_SQ = (1 2±007) × 10³ Torr^?1 s^?1 The deuterium isotope effect is attributed to the T₁ → S₀ radiationlcss decay, for which k^H_ISC/k^D_ISC = 2 4