Energy transfer and excited state lifetime of some anthracene laser dyes

The lifetimes of some anthrathene derivatives in different solvents have been determined using the phase modulation method. The lifetime of 10-phenyl-2-methyl-9-acetoxyanthracene and 10-(4-acetoxyphenyl)-2-methyl-9-acetoxyanthracene were found to equal 11 and 11 ns in methanol, respectively. Energy transfer from 10-phenyl-2-methyl-9-acetoxyanthracene and 10-(4-acetoxyphenyl)-2-methyl-9-acetoxyanthracene to rhodamine B and rhodamine 110 in different solvents has been studied by using steady-state emission measurements. The large values of the critical transfer distance R₀ and the rate constant of energy transfer k_ET suggest that the mechanism is long-range dipole–dipole energy transfer as described by Förster.