THE TRIPLET EXCITED STATES OF BILIVERDIN AND BILIVERDIN DIMETHYL ESTER

Abstract— The triplet states of biliverdin and biliverdin dimethyl ester have been generated using pulse radiolysis excitation. Biliverdin triplet was formed by energy transfer from biphenyl triplet in acetone, absorbed throughout the wavelength range studied (380–1000 nm) and had a half-life of 11.7μs under the cpnditions chosen. Biliverdin dimethyl ester triplet was formed by energy transfer from biphenyl triplet in benzene, likewise absorbed throughout the wavelength range studied (360–1000 nm) and had a half-life of 6.7μs under the conditions used. Both biliverdin and biliverdin dimethyl ester efficiently quench anthracene, naphthacene, but not μ-carotene, triplet states. On the other hand. neither μ-carotene nor oxygen were found to quench the triplet states of biliverdin or biliverdin dimethyl ester. Estimates or limits for the rate constants of all these quenching reactions were obtained. These reactivities suggest that the triplet levels of both biliverdin and biliverdin dimethyl ester lie around 90 kJ mol^-1. The triplet energy transfer rate from bilirubin to biliverdin dimethyl ester in benzene was measured to be 1.9 × 10⁹ M^-1 s^-1. The singlet-triplet intersystem crossing efficiencies of both molecules were very low, limits of 0.004 and 0.001 being found for biliverdin and biliverdin dimethyl ester, respectively, using 347 nm laser excitation.