The Effects of Moisture and Gases on the Room-Temperature Fluorescence and Phosphorescence of Model Aromatic Compounds Adsorbed on Filter Paper

Abstract

Water, oxygen, and air were investigated for their abilities to quench the room-temperature fluorescence (RTF) and room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) of the protonated forms of benzo[f]quinoline (B[f]QH+) and benzo[h]quinoline (B[h]QH+), and α-naphthoflavone. As with earlier studies, H2O was found to be a more potent quencher of RTP than O2. However, both species were able to quench RTP. A simple method was developed for reporting the percentage decrease in RTP or RTF for a given quencher, and thus easy comparisons could be made among the component contributions to the overall quenching of the RTF and RTP signals. The RTP quenching data for the three phosphors were found to fit an equation of the form, Y = aXb. This equation allowed some conclusions to be made about the interactions responsible for the quenching of RTP by moisture. Also, it was found that RTF was much less sensitive to H2O and O2 quenching than was RTP.