Quenching of fluorescence of porphyrin molecules in their association in binary solutions

It has been established that the absorption and fluorescence spectra of octaethylporphin (OEP), mesotetraphenylporphin (TPhP), and its complex with zinc (Zn-TPhP) in glycerol doped with dimethylformamide (DMF) or ethanol differ from the analogous spectra of these compounds in ethanol or DMF, which is due to the formation of associates of porphyrin molecules in solutions of OEP, TPhP, and An-TPhP with glycerol. For TPhP and Zn-TPhP, these differences are small, the maxima of the bands are shifted toward longer wavelengths by 3–5 nm, and their halfwidths are increased by ∼ 16%; for OEP these changes are more significant. It is shown that the duration of fluorescence of associates is much shorter than that of monomers. The probable mechanisms of quenching of the fluorescence of dimers (oligomers) of molecules were considered. It has been suggested that one of the reasons for the increased rates of deactivation of the excited states of dimers (oligomers) may be the decreased energy interval between the excited and ground states of associates as compared with that of monomers. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 67, No. 1, pp. 21–25, January–February, 2000.