Luminescence of oxotetrahydrobenzo[c]phenanthridine in polar and nonpolar solvents: Inversion of the energy levels of the Sππ* and Tnπ* states

The spectral-luminescent properties and electronic-level structure of a derivative of oxotetrahydrobenzoc]phenanthridine—3,3-dimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzoc]phenanthridine-1-one (DTP)—in polar and nonpolar solutions are studied by the luminescence and picosecond spectroscopy techniques at 293 and 77 K. It is shown that DTP exhibits ππp* fluorescence only in polar proton-containing methanol, ethanol, and n-propanol and that this fluorescence is associated with a chromophore + alcohol complex. Solutions of DTP in n-propanol and the nonpolar mixture methylcyclohexane + toluene (6:1) at 77 K display ππp* phosphorescence with a quantum yield Φ_Ph=0.1, a lifetime τ_Ph=1.9 s, and a frequency of the 0-0 transition equal to 21550 cm⁻¹. The fact that DTP fluorescence is absent in aprotic solvents and exists in alcohols is explained by the inversion of the energy levels of the S _ππ* and T _n π* states, as a result of which the energy level of the fluorescing S _ππ* state in alcohol becomes the lowest. The picosecond spectra and kinetics of the inducedS _n (ππ*) ← S ₁(π π*) and T _k (ππ*) ← T ₁(ππ*) absorption made it possible to estimate the lifetime of the S ₁(ππ*) state of DTP in n-propanol at 293 K (20±10 ps) and the position of the triplet-triplet absorption peak (495 nm). __________ Translated from Optika i Spektroskopiya, Vol. 94, No. 6, 2003, pp. 993–998. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2003 by Bondarev, Knyukshto, Tikhomirov, Pyrko.