ANION AND SOLVENT EFFECTS ON THE RATE OF REDUCTION OF TRIPLET EXCITED THIAZINE DYES BY FERROUS IONS

Abstract— The lifetimes of the triplet excited states of thionine and methylene blue were measured in aqueous and 50 v/v% aqueous acetonitrile solutions acidified with 0.01 N sulfuric or trifluoromethyl-sulfonic acid. The rate constants for reaction of the triplet excited dyes with ferrous ions were measured in the same solutions. The triplet lifetimes in the absence of added quenchers were insensitive to a change in acid from trifluoromethylsulfonic to sulfuric or to a change in solvent from water to 50v/v% aqueous acetonitrile (τ for triplet thionine ?7.5 μs, τ for triplet methylene blue ?4.5 μs). In contrast, the rate constant for reaction of the triplet dyes with ferrous ions increased by nearly a factor of 10 with a change in acid from trifluoromethylsulfonic to sulfuric. In solutions containing sulfate ions this reaction rate constant increased with increasing sulfate concentration and with a change in solvent from water to 50 v/v% aqueous acetonitrile. The results are discussed in terms of the possibility of association of the positively charged reactive ions with sulfate anions. Quenching of the triplet excited dyes by ferric ions or by ground state dye molecules was shown to be negligible at the concentration used for the ferrous ion quenching study.