Emission of Acridine and its Aggregates Isolated in the Neon Matrix
J. Prochorow, B. Kozankiewicz, Bango Bango Dongo Gemi and O. Morawski
Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
Received: July 23, 1998; in final form October 30, 1998
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The results of experimental studies of fluorescence and phosphorescence of acridine in the low-temperature inert neon matrix, at 7 K, are reported. It is found that the low-temperature inert matrix of neon affects the energy levels of acridine molecules very weakly even as compared with nonpolar (aprotic) and non-reactive solvent (e.g. hexane) and that there are different sites for acridine molecules in the neon matrix. However, the observed fluorescence spectra are strongly dependent on the excitation wavelength and besides the different (monomer) sites other emitting species are also contributing to the observed fluorescence emission of acridine in the neon matrix. Clear-cut evidence of the formation of singlet excimers of acridine in the neon matrix demonstrates itself as a very broad and structureless fluorescence spectrum with a relatively large shift from the origin of monomer (site) fluorescence which is characterized by a very distinct vibrational structure. The phosphorescence emission was observed only for the monomers. The observed differences in the low-energy part of excitation spectra of phosphorescence and fluorescence are discussed in terms of the close-lying excited singlet states of n,π* and π,π* character (mixed by the vibronic coupling) and tentatively interpreted as due to the formation of resonance acridine dimers. Their fluorescence spectrum is slightly shifted toward lower energies from the origin of monomer (site) fluorescence.
DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.94.749
PACS numbers: 31.50.+w, 33.50.-j